BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Michigan State track & field team travels to Bloomington, Indiana, for the 2023 Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Indiana's Haugh Track & Field Complex from Friday-Sunday, May 12-14.
Action gets underway with the decathlon 100m at noon on Friday and concludes Sunday afternoon with the men's and women's 4x400 relays.
Live results will be available on MSUSpartans.com. Separate track and field streams will be available for all three days of competition on B1G+.
A total of six Spartans earned All-Big Ten honors at the indoor championships in February this year, with senior Heath Baldwin and graduate student Trevor Stephenson collecting honors on the men's side and grad student Shakira Dancy, seniors Katie Osika and Lauren Freeland and sophomore Kate Stewart-Barnett earning honors on the women's side. Baldwin (heptathlon) and Stephenson (pole vault) also advanced to the NCAA Indoor Championships in March, both collecting First-Team All-American honors.
MSU also returns a pair of All-Big Ten finishers from last year's outdoor conference championships. Current senior Ryan Talbot won the decathlon title at last year's championships with a then-school record of 8,064 points, while Osika finished second in the women's 1500m. Osika has had an outstanding year in the Green & White, most notably finishing as a Second-Team All-American in cross country in the fall.
Four 2022 outdoor All-Americans also return for the Spartans this season, including Talbot and Baldwin (decathlon), Stephenson (pole vault) and distance athlete John Petruno (1500m). Graduate transfer CarLee Stimpfel, who joined the Spartans in the fall for the 2022-23 cross country and track seasons, was a seven-time Division II All-American at Saginaw Valley State.
The Spartan women last won the Big Ten Outdoor team title in 2015, while the last team title for the Spartan men came in 1972.
RECORD BREAKERS
Several Spartan school records have fallen throughout the indoor and outdoor seasons in 2022-23. During the indoor season, senior Heath Baldwin broke the heptathlon school record (6,000 pts) and followed up his performance with the MSU decathlon record (8,084 pts) in his first multi-event of the outdoor season. He has broken the school record in every multi he has competed in this year.
Graduate student Trevor Stephenson has also broken a pair of men's school records this year, setting the indoor pole vault at the NCAA Championships (5.66m) and setting the outdoor record twice this season, most recently clearing a mark of 5.55m at the Mt. SAC Relays in April.
On the women's side, three school records were set at the Penn Relays this April, including the 4x800 (Lauren Freeland, Shae Harbaugh, Alison Ziehl, Abbey Carvey), 4x1500 (Katie Osika, Kaitlyn Hynes, Judy Rector, Taylor Visscher) and distance medley relay (Sophia Lucki, Shakira Dancy, Olivia Millen, Emily Bardwell). The Spartans' team of Lauren Freeland, Shakira Dancy, Kate Stewart-Barnett and Katie Osika also broke the DMR school record during the indoor season.
DISTANCE
Two Spartan distance runners on the men's side sit in the top 10 in the conference this season. Senior John Petruno ranks seventh with a season-best 3:41.62 in the 1500m, while CarLee Stimpfel ranks third in the 10,000m with a time of 29:06.03.
On the women's side, senior Katie Osika ranks third in the 1500m (4:15.94) and seventh in the 5000m (16:04.72), while senior Lauren Freeland follows in fourth in the 1500m with a season-best time of 4:15.97. Sophomore Kate Stewart-Barnett ranks second in the conference in the 3000m steeplechase after clocking her first-career sub-10 in the event at the Penn Relays, running 9:56.76. Stewart-Barnett competed at last year's Canadian U20 Championships in the 1500m.
JUMPS/MULTIS
MSU's pole vault squad boasts a pair of top-10 rankings on the men's side, with Stephenson ranking first at 5.55m and graduate student Michael Davenport sitting in ninth at 5.11m. Freshman Sophia Mettes ranks seventh in the women's conference pole vault rankings with a season-best 4.08m clearance.
The Spartans hold the No. 1, 6 and 8 spots in the decathlon. Baldwin's school record (8,084 pts) ranks first in the Big Ten, first in the NCAA East Region and second in the NCAA. Senior Ryan Talbot sits in sixth (7,195 pts) and sophomore Dylan Terryberry ranks eighth (6,574 pts).
SPRINTS/HURDLES
The Spartans return a pair of 2022 NCAA East qualifiers in the men's 400m in sophomores Noah Sage and Terrence Muex. Sage holds a season best of 47.29 in the event, while Muex posts a 48.64 season best.
The MSU women's 4x100 relay of Alexys Wilson, Shakira Dancy, Anyssa Hall and Amani Nuels ranks 10th in the league with a time of 46.15.
THROWS
MSU posts a dynamic sophomore duo in Valadian Pallett and Opal Jackson in the women's throws, both setting personal bests in the discus and shot put this year. Jackson ranks 11th in the conference in the shot put with a mark of 15.74m, which also ranks 32nd in the NCAA East Region. Jackson also competed in the shot put at last year's USATF U20 Outdoor Championships.
2022 NCAA East qualifier Josh DeVries ranks ninth in the Big Ten this season in the hammer throw with a personal-best mark of 65.39m, just shy of MSU's school record of 66.29m. Freshman Colby Morlock has the 15th-best shot put mark in the league this season with an 18.07m, which is also the best mark by a freshman in the conference.
UP NEXT
The NCAA East Preliminary Rounds are scheduled for May 24-27 at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida. The top 48 athletes in each event in the NCAA East Region will qualify for the preliminary rounds.
Action gets underway with the decathlon 100m at noon on Friday and concludes Sunday afternoon with the men's and women's 4x400 relays.
Live results will be available on MSUSpartans.com. Separate track and field streams will be available for all three days of competition on B1G+.
A total of six Spartans earned All-Big Ten honors at the indoor championships in February this year, with senior Heath Baldwin and graduate student Trevor Stephenson collecting honors on the men's side and grad student Shakira Dancy, seniors Katie Osika and Lauren Freeland and sophomore Kate Stewart-Barnett earning honors on the women's side. Baldwin (heptathlon) and Stephenson (pole vault) also advanced to the NCAA Indoor Championships in March, both collecting First-Team All-American honors.
MSU also returns a pair of All-Big Ten finishers from last year's outdoor conference championships. Current senior Ryan Talbot won the decathlon title at last year's championships with a then-school record of 8,064 points, while Osika finished second in the women's 1500m. Osika has had an outstanding year in the Green & White, most notably finishing as a Second-Team All-American in cross country in the fall.
Four 2022 outdoor All-Americans also return for the Spartans this season, including Talbot and Baldwin (decathlon), Stephenson (pole vault) and distance athlete John Petruno (1500m). Graduate transfer CarLee Stimpfel, who joined the Spartans in the fall for the 2022-23 cross country and track seasons, was a seven-time Division II All-American at Saginaw Valley State.
The Spartan women last won the Big Ten Outdoor team title in 2015, while the last team title for the Spartan men came in 1972.
RECORD BREAKERS
Several Spartan school records have fallen throughout the indoor and outdoor seasons in 2022-23. During the indoor season, senior Heath Baldwin broke the heptathlon school record (6,000 pts) and followed up his performance with the MSU decathlon record (8,084 pts) in his first multi-event of the outdoor season. He has broken the school record in every multi he has competed in this year.
Graduate student Trevor Stephenson has also broken a pair of men's school records this year, setting the indoor pole vault at the NCAA Championships (5.66m) and setting the outdoor record twice this season, most recently clearing a mark of 5.55m at the Mt. SAC Relays in April.
On the women's side, three school records were set at the Penn Relays this April, including the 4x800 (Lauren Freeland, Shae Harbaugh, Alison Ziehl, Abbey Carvey), 4x1500 (Katie Osika, Kaitlyn Hynes, Judy Rector, Taylor Visscher) and distance medley relay (Sophia Lucki, Shakira Dancy, Olivia Millen, Emily Bardwell). The Spartans' team of Lauren Freeland, Shakira Dancy, Kate Stewart-Barnett and Katie Osika also broke the DMR school record during the indoor season.
DISTANCE
Two Spartan distance runners on the men's side sit in the top 10 in the conference this season. Senior John Petruno ranks seventh with a season-best 3:41.62 in the 1500m, while CarLee Stimpfel ranks third in the 10,000m with a time of 29:06.03.
On the women's side, senior Katie Osika ranks third in the 1500m (4:15.94) and seventh in the 5000m (16:04.72), while senior Lauren Freeland follows in fourth in the 1500m with a season-best time of 4:15.97. Sophomore Kate Stewart-Barnett ranks second in the conference in the 3000m steeplechase after clocking her first-career sub-10 in the event at the Penn Relays, running 9:56.76. Stewart-Barnett competed at last year's Canadian U20 Championships in the 1500m.
JUMPS/MULTIS
MSU's pole vault squad boasts a pair of top-10 rankings on the men's side, with Stephenson ranking first at 5.55m and graduate student Michael Davenport sitting in ninth at 5.11m. Freshman Sophia Mettes ranks seventh in the women's conference pole vault rankings with a season-best 4.08m clearance.
The Spartans hold the No. 1, 6 and 8 spots in the decathlon. Baldwin's school record (8,084 pts) ranks first in the Big Ten, first in the NCAA East Region and second in the NCAA. Senior Ryan Talbot sits in sixth (7,195 pts) and sophomore Dylan Terryberry ranks eighth (6,574 pts).
SPRINTS/HURDLES
The Spartans return a pair of 2022 NCAA East qualifiers in the men's 400m in sophomores Noah Sage and Terrence Muex. Sage holds a season best of 47.29 in the event, while Muex posts a 48.64 season best.
The MSU women's 4x100 relay of Alexys Wilson, Shakira Dancy, Anyssa Hall and Amani Nuels ranks 10th in the league with a time of 46.15.
THROWS
MSU posts a dynamic sophomore duo in Valadian Pallett and Opal Jackson in the women's throws, both setting personal bests in the discus and shot put this year. Jackson ranks 11th in the conference in the shot put with a mark of 15.74m, which also ranks 32nd in the NCAA East Region. Jackson also competed in the shot put at last year's USATF U20 Outdoor Championships.
2022 NCAA East qualifier Josh DeVries ranks ninth in the Big Ten this season in the hammer throw with a personal-best mark of 65.39m, just shy of MSU's school record of 66.29m. Freshman Colby Morlock has the 15th-best shot put mark in the league this season with an 18.07m, which is also the best mark by a freshman in the conference.
UP NEXT
The NCAA East Preliminary Rounds are scheduled for May 24-27 at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida. The top 48 athletes in each event in the NCAA East Region will qualify for the preliminary rounds.
