Friday, February 25
Kent, OH
All Day
Ball State University
vs
Mid-American Conference Indoor Championships
Photo by: David Dermer
Ball State concludes MAC Indoor Championships with strong showing
February 26, 2022 | Track & Field
Cardinals finish sixth, Griffith named Most Valuable Performer
KENT, Ohio – The Ball State track and field team concluded its weekend at the Mid-American Conference Indoor Championships Saturday and finished sixth as a team with 62 points – the second-highest finish in the conference meet since 2010 (third in 2020).
"I am really proud of our young ladies," head coach Adrian Wheatley said. "Coming into the meet, I was looking at where we could've been if everything went right and where we could've been if everything went wrong, and they just kept exceeding what we had if everything went right. I'm just really proud of these young ladies.
"They have bought into what we're talking about. Anytime you're with a new program, there's always going to be a bit of hesitation to understand the direction of what we want to do and how we're going to get there. Today was an opportunity to demonstrate that. Yesterday, we set it up and had athletes make finals and compete. The momentum continued to carry throughout the weekend. It was exciting to see."
Charity Griffith once again broke the program record in the high jump at 6-0 3/4 (1.85m), winning her second gold medal of the meet after winning the pentathlon Friday. For her efforts, she was named the MAC's Most Valuable Performer along with Joy Chirchir (Toledo) and Amya Clarke (Akron).
MaQuila Norman added to her MAC medal collection after placing third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.27.
In the triple jump, McKenna Cinotte set an indoor personal best at 40-1 1/4 (12.22m) and placed sixth.
Payton Barlow (55.91) and Alexis Thigpen (56.01) took fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 400-meter dash. After advancing to the final for the first time as a Cardinal with a lifetime best Friday (56.27), Thigpen beat that mark again to set a new lifetime best for the second day in a row.
Kayla Jones set an indoor personal best in the prelims Friday in the 800-meter run at 2:13.17, earning her a lane to compete in the final Saturday. She advanced to the final for the first time in her career, taking sixth overall in 2:15.86.
The 4x400-meter relay team of Thigpen, Norman, Karlie Zumbro and Barlow crossed the line in second place with a time of 3:47.21, just narrowly off the season-best mark.
"Charity winning another medal and improving on her indoor NCAA national ranking, first-time finalists Alexis Thigpen in the 400 and Kayla Jones in the 800, freshmen stepped up such as Mckenna in the triple jump – those are just some of the highlights," Wheatley added. "Our 4x400 team was ranked fourth coming in and took second and was really close to winning a gold medal. It was great to see the young ladies embrace it and have the opportunity to really represent themselves and Ball State University very proudly. There's a lot more that we're going to continue to work on, but this is a great start to working towards that ultimate goal of bringing a MAC championship back to Ball State in the coming years."
"I am really proud of our young ladies," head coach Adrian Wheatley said. "Coming into the meet, I was looking at where we could've been if everything went right and where we could've been if everything went wrong, and they just kept exceeding what we had if everything went right. I'm just really proud of these young ladies.
"They have bought into what we're talking about. Anytime you're with a new program, there's always going to be a bit of hesitation to understand the direction of what we want to do and how we're going to get there. Today was an opportunity to demonstrate that. Yesterday, we set it up and had athletes make finals and compete. The momentum continued to carry throughout the weekend. It was exciting to see."
Charity Griffith once again broke the program record in the high jump at 6-0 3/4 (1.85m), winning her second gold medal of the meet after winning the pentathlon Friday. For her efforts, she was named the MAC's Most Valuable Performer along with Joy Chirchir (Toledo) and Amya Clarke (Akron).
MaQuila Norman added to her MAC medal collection after placing third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.27.
In the triple jump, McKenna Cinotte set an indoor personal best at 40-1 1/4 (12.22m) and placed sixth.
Payton Barlow (55.91) and Alexis Thigpen (56.01) took fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 400-meter dash. After advancing to the final for the first time as a Cardinal with a lifetime best Friday (56.27), Thigpen beat that mark again to set a new lifetime best for the second day in a row.
Kayla Jones set an indoor personal best in the prelims Friday in the 800-meter run at 2:13.17, earning her a lane to compete in the final Saturday. She advanced to the final for the first time in her career, taking sixth overall in 2:15.86.
The 4x400-meter relay team of Thigpen, Norman, Karlie Zumbro and Barlow crossed the line in second place with a time of 3:47.21, just narrowly off the season-best mark.
"Charity winning another medal and improving on her indoor NCAA national ranking, first-time finalists Alexis Thigpen in the 400 and Kayla Jones in the 800, freshmen stepped up such as Mckenna in the triple jump – those are just some of the highlights," Wheatley added. "Our 4x400 team was ranked fourth coming in and took second and was really close to winning a gold medal. It was great to see the young ladies embrace it and have the opportunity to really represent themselves and Ball State University very proudly. There's a lot more that we're going to continue to work on, but this is a great start to working towards that ultimate goal of bringing a MAC championship back to Ball State in the coming years."
Players Mentioned
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Jumps
/ Track & Field
High Jump
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Multis/Hurdles
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