Indiana University Athletics
Kuhn, Clute Earn Big Ten Championships
3/2/2016 11:26:00 AM | Track and Field
By: Tori Ziege | Twitter
IUHoosiers.com
GENEVA, Ohio – Daniel Kuhn had been in this position before.
With 9 meters left in the 600-meter run, the then-freshman led the fastest runners in the conference at the 2015 Big Ten Indoor Championships.
Then, his legs gave out. He finished seventh.
In the same race on the same track at the same meet a year later, Kuhn was perfectly on his target pace, leading the field at the 400-split. With competitors breathing down his neck across the final stretch, Kuhn replayed the memory in his head.
Then, he changed it.
"I was just praying that I could hold on for dear life," Kuhn said. "I could feel them, and then I finally crossed the line and looked at the scoreboard and saw that I won."
The field came in a tenth of a second behind Kuhn, with the top four finishing within 22 hundredths of one another. It was a side-by-side finish to earn Big Ten gold.
"Just an overwhelming feeling came on," Kuhn said. "I've been working so hard and really wanting something big like that. I finally got my reward."
Kuhn's gold medal time of 1:16.02 is the fifth-fastest ever by a collegiate athlete and a new school record.
It is his third time setting the record in the 600-meter run this season and his fifth time setting a school record overall, with the other two program-bests coming this season in the 800-meter run.
"I didn't try to keep track (of the records)," Kuhn said. "I went out each weekend and if I got one, I got one. I wanted to compete to the best of my ability."
Senior Sydney Clute didn't have anyone breathing down her neck in her pursuit of a Big Ten Title and a school record in the women's pole vault.
In the knock-out style championship, each athlete gets three attempts to clear the continually raising bar until no one — not even the winner — remains.
Clute started at 4.01 meters. She cleared on her first attempt. At the 4.16-meter mark, five vaulters remained. Again, Clute cleared on her first attempt.
Then there were four. At 4.21 meters, another first-attempt clearance for Clute.
"At that point I was feeling really, really good," she said. "I was jumping probably the best I had all season. I was really confident that I basically had it in the bag unless something really terrible went wrong."
At 4.26 meters, Clute clinched her first Big Ten Championship clearing on all first attempts.
Then, it was time to shift focus.
"It was kind of anticlimactic for a Big Ten championship," Clute said. "I just remember this moment where I was standing there and I was like 'Wow, I just won. Let's go break some records now.'"
Clute ended the competition with a program best 4.35-meter vault after grazing the bar on the descent of her third attempt from 4.41 meters — the would-be Big Ten record.
She continued the lineage of successful Indiana women's pole vaulters, started by the Hoosiers' first Big Ten Champion, Vera Neuenswander, in 2007.
Neuenswander left the program in 2011 with two conference titles and the school record before being bested by her mentee, Big Ten Indoor Champion Kelsie Ahbe, in 2014. Clute was a sophomore when Ahbe set the previous record of 4.34 meters.
She called Ahbe as a confidence-booster just days before breaking her record.
"Kelsie was the perfect role model when she was here, and she's still jumping, so that's inspired all of us here," Clute said.
"When you have girls that have jumped before you that are clearing high bars, it makes those heights attainable."
IUHoosiers.com
GENEVA, Ohio – Daniel Kuhn had been in this position before.
With 9 meters left in the 600-meter run, the then-freshman led the fastest runners in the conference at the 2015 Big Ten Indoor Championships.
Then, his legs gave out. He finished seventh.
In the same race on the same track at the same meet a year later, Kuhn was perfectly on his target pace, leading the field at the 400-split. With competitors breathing down his neck across the final stretch, Kuhn replayed the memory in his head.
Then, he changed it.
"I was just praying that I could hold on for dear life," Kuhn said. "I could feel them, and then I finally crossed the line and looked at the scoreboard and saw that I won."
The field came in a tenth of a second behind Kuhn, with the top four finishing within 22 hundredths of one another. It was a side-by-side finish to earn Big Ten gold.
"Just an overwhelming feeling came on," Kuhn said. "I've been working so hard and really wanting something big like that. I finally got my reward."
Kuhn's gold medal time of 1:16.02 is the fifth-fastest ever by a collegiate athlete and a new school record.
It is his third time setting the record in the 600-meter run this season and his fifth time setting a school record overall, with the other two program-bests coming this season in the 800-meter run.
"I didn't try to keep track (of the records)," Kuhn said. "I went out each weekend and if I got one, I got one. I wanted to compete to the best of my ability."
Senior Sydney Clute didn't have anyone breathing down her neck in her pursuit of a Big Ten Title and a school record in the women's pole vault.
In the knock-out style championship, each athlete gets three attempts to clear the continually raising bar until no one — not even the winner — remains.
Clute started at 4.01 meters. She cleared on her first attempt. At the 4.16-meter mark, five vaulters remained. Again, Clute cleared on her first attempt.
Then there were four. At 4.21 meters, another first-attempt clearance for Clute.
"At that point I was feeling really, really good," she said. "I was jumping probably the best I had all season. I was really confident that I basically had it in the bag unless something really terrible went wrong."
At 4.26 meters, Clute clinched her first Big Ten Championship clearing on all first attempts.
Then, it was time to shift focus.
"It was kind of anticlimactic for a Big Ten championship," Clute said. "I just remember this moment where I was standing there and I was like 'Wow, I just won. Let's go break some records now.'"
Clute ended the competition with a program best 4.35-meter vault after grazing the bar on the descent of her third attempt from 4.41 meters — the would-be Big Ten record.
She continued the lineage of successful Indiana women's pole vaulters, started by the Hoosiers' first Big Ten Champion, Vera Neuenswander, in 2007.
Neuenswander left the program in 2011 with two conference titles and the school record before being bested by her mentee, Big Ten Indoor Champion Kelsie Ahbe, in 2014. Clute was a sophomore when Ahbe set the previous record of 4.34 meters.
She called Ahbe as a confidence-booster just days before breaking her record.
"Kelsie was the perfect role model when she was here, and she's still jumping, so that's inspired all of us here," Clute said.
"When you have girls that have jumped before you that are clearing high bars, it makes those heights attainable."
Players Mentioned
Pole Vault
/ Track and Field
Middle Distance
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