By Andrew Earnest and Anna Loveland
Harry Gladstein Fieldhouse and the men’s and women’s track and field teams hosted the Indiana University Relays Friday and Saturday.
Both teams represented Indiana University well, especially in the 5,000-meter invitational run. The women’s team, ranked No. 16 nationally by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, took the top three places in the event, and the men’s team took first and second.
Sarah Pease and Erica Ridderman finished within two seconds of each other with times of 16:38 and 16:40, respectively. Their teammate Caitlin Engel crossed the finish line 20 seconds later, more than a minute in front of the next runner to finish.
Chelsea Blanchard started the race, but dropped out midway through and cheered on her teammates for the remainder of their grueling 3.1 miles event. Blanchard was named Big Ten Athlete of the Week for her performance in the 3,000 meter run at last weekend’s meet. She held up to her title Friday when she won the one-mile run in a short four minutes and 41 seconds, just hundredths of a second off from the national leaders in the event.
The IU distance runners stole the show on Saturday. Junior Ben Hubers ran the 5,000-meter in 13:44.93, the second-fastest time in the world in 2011. Junior Andrew Poore followed him up with a 13:45.33 in the same race, marking the third fastest time in the world this year.
Other noteworthy finishes included Zach Meyhew, who ran a 13:58.40 in the Men’s 5,000, and Arianne Raby, who won third place in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:12.97. Ruth Christopher also placed third in the 800-meter invitational run in 2:11.71.
In field events, Emma Kimoto placed second in the high jump jumping 5 feet, 8 inches. Kelsie Ahbe and Vera Nevenswander took second and third places in the pole vault. Nevenswander vaulted 12 feet, eight and a half inches while Ahbe reached 13 feet, one and a half inches.
The track and field teams will head to the Meyo Invitational in Notre Dame, Indiana for their next competition. This event will be held all day Friday, February 4.
