Indoor Track and Field Season Preview

12/7/2022 10:30:00 AM | Track and Field

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Merely six months removed from the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships, the collegiate track and field season will begin this weekend for the Indiana Track and Field teams with the Hoosier Open (Dec. 9).

The Hoosiers are among a handful of programs kicking off their season in early December before the bulk of the schedule picks up after the holidays.

The Indoor Season, lasting from December to March, will culminate with the NCAA Indoor Championships in Albuquerque. The national meet was set to be hosted in New Mexico in 2020 before the pandemic shut down the season.

2023 will mark the final season in the illustrious coaching career of Ron Helmer as he sets to retire following the conclusion of the outdoor campaign in June.

He has been the coach at IU since the 2007-2008 season and has led the Hoosiers to four Big Ten titles including the 2020 Men's Indoor Big Ten Championship.

The Indoor Season: A Rundown

The NCAA Indoor Track and Field season opens up the calendar year and provides most athletes their first taste of competition in the school year.

The first men's indoor NCAA meet came in 1965 with the women beginning competition in 1983.

Texas is the defending national champion on the men's side while Florida won the women's title in 2022.

During the indoor season there are 17 events contested at the national meet compared to the 21 during the outdoor season. The Big Ten also runs the 600 meters at the conference meet, making for a total of 18 events run at the conference championships.

The Distance Medley Relay is contested only indoors and events such as the 60 meters, Mile, and Weight Throw are adjusted to fit the facilities.

The Hoosiers will compete across seven weekends during the regular season before the Big Ten Indoor Championships (Feb. 24-25) and the NCAA Indoor Championships (March 10-11).

Over the course of its program history, IU has won 14 event titles at the NCAA Indoor Championships, the last coming in 2013 when Derek Drouin won his third high jump title in four seasons.

IU has won 53 Big Ten event titles during the indoor season since Helmer took the reins of the program.

The Hoosiers have won at least two event titles on the men's side at six-consecutive Big Ten Indoor Championships including five in both 2017 and 2021.

2022 Big Ten Review

The 2022 Big Ten Indoor Championships saw the Hoosiers finish 4th (80) on the men's side and 9th (33) on the women's side.

Rikkoi Brathwaite (60 meters) and Camden Marshall (800 meters) earned IU a pair of individual champions. It marked back-to-back conference titles for Brathwaite and the first title at 800 meters for IU since 2018.

Maria Anderson earned a bronze medal in the 600 meters with her third-place finish in 1:28.04 while Jayden Ulrich (Shot Put) and Paola Fernandez-Sola (Long Jump) finished fourth and fifth in their respective events.

Ben Veatch earned second and third in the Mile and 5000 meters respectively while Nathan Stone won bronze in the Pole Vault.

Both relays on the men's side earned medals with the DMR team of Nick Couyoumjian, Shaton Vaughn, Parker Raymond and Veatch earning a runner-up finish.

The men scored in 13 of the 18 events enroute to a fourth-place finish.

Returning All-Americans

Parker Raymond and Camden Marshall were both on the DMR team that finished 10th in the NCAA in 2022.

Sean Mockler was an All-American outdoors in the Hammer Throw and will look to translate that success indoors in the Weight Throw after a strong freshman season.

Paola Fernandez-Sola was an All-American outdoors in the Long Jump and will be one of the top returning athletes in the NCAA in her event.

Returning Athletes from 2022 Big Ten Indoor Roster

Men
Sprints: Antonio Laidler, Shaton Vaughn, Micah Camble
Mid-Distance: Parker Raymond, Camden Marshall, Nick Couyoumjian, Reece Proctor
Distance: Austin Haskett, Gabriel Sanchez, Dustin Horter, Keelan Grant, Jake Gebhardt, Skylar Stidam
Jumps: Grayson Rolen, Kynton Grays
Pole Vault: Nathan Stone
Throws: Adam Strouf, Sean Mockler

Women
Sprints: Morgan Snow, Kaylee Lane, Lauren Thomas
Mid-Distance: Maria Anderson, Shynae Deas, Elizabeth Stanhope, Jenna Barker
Distance: Mikaela Ramirez, Maddie Dalton, Sarah Schmitt, Mariah Wehrle, Alyssa Skorge, Phoebe Bates
Jumps: Mahogany Jenkins, Paola Fernandez-Sola
Pole Vault: Taylor Jarosinski
Throws: Jayden Ulrich, Makayla Hunter

Newcomers

The Hoosiers welcomed a number of impact freshmen and transfers to the roster this season with some expected to produce at the conference level straight away.

Serena Bolden (LSU) and Jessica Mercier (Michigan) have big experience at the conference level in the jumps and pole vault respectively at their previous schools.

Christopher Grant (Auburn) and Robert Blue (Albany) have heavy experience under their belts at the collegiate level. Blue was a conference champion in the America East while Grant was an SEC runner-up at 60 meters.

Noah Koch joins the throws where he will add experience and versatility to a talented event group. He was a Division II All-American at Ashland before joining the Hoosiers.

Freshmen Ray Brodie, John Colquitt and Alyssa Shope have all won state titles in either Track and Field or Cross Country.

2022-2023 Indoor Track and Field Schedule:
December 9: Hoosier Open (Bloomington, Ind.)
January 13-14: Commodore Challenge (Nashville, Tenn.)
January 20-21: Gladstein Invitational (Bloomington, Ind.)
January 27-28: IU Relays (Bloomington, Ind.)
February 3-4: Meyo Invitational (South Bend, Ind.)
February 10: Hoosier Hills (Bloomington, Ind.)
February 10-11: Windy City Invite (Chicago, Ill.)
February 18: Alex Wilson (South Bend, Ind.)
February 24-25: Big Ten Championships (Geneva, Ohio)
March 10-11: NCAA Championships (Albuquerqu