Track Prepares for Regular Season Finale at Ball State

Friday, February 20

Muncie, Ind.

5 p.m.

Purdue Fort Wayne

Ball State Open

Track Prepares for Regular Season Finale at Ball State

2/19/2015 3:30:00 PM | Women's Track and Field

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The IPFW track and field team will wrap up its indoor regular season slate on Friday, February 20 at the Ball State Open in Muncie, Ind. at the Ball State Field Sports Building. The 'Dons will finish the 2014-15 indoor season at the Summit League Championships the following week, February 27 and 28, in Fargo, N.D.

Meet: Ball State Open
When: Friday, February 20 | 5 p.m.
Where: Muncie, Ind. | Ball State Field Sports Building

LAST TIME OUT
The Mastodons have re-written the record books this year, setting new program marks in every meet they've participated in, with the exception of one. That trend continued at the Fred Wilt Invitational hosted by Purdue University on Saturday, February 14, as two more records were broken on the day.

Kiawna Cottrell has been key to helping IPFW accomplish those feats this season, as the first-year student-athlete has bested program records in every meet this year except one. In an effort to keep the freshman fresh for the conference championships, Cottrell has been alternating between sprints and field events each week, and the strategy has paid off. On Saturday in West Lafayette, Cottrell recorded a personal best mark of 5.38 meters (17-8.0), breaking the school record in the event that she set just a few weeks previously at the Ohio State Invitational. It was also the third time this season she's set a new mark in the event and the second time she's broken her own record.

Also on the field events side, freshman Ashley Brown and sophomore Kyley Marano participated in the high jump, with both of their highest jumps coming at 1.54 meters (5-0.5). The mark was a season-best for Marano.

Several other career-best were set on the day for the young squad, the most coming in the 5,000 meter run where four 'Dons finished in the top-10 and five of six who participated set personal bests in the event. The group was led by sophomore Rachel Kacer, who has had a solid second year and has only improved since coming to IPFW, as she placed sixth with a time of 19:06.72. Freshmen twin sisters Brittany and Breanna Fensler finished in seventh (19:13.08) and eighth (19:22.63), respectively, both crushing their previous career bests in the event. Junior Andrea Bell ran the race in a season-best time of 19.35.22 to come in 10^th, while sophomore Cheryl Morris (20:46.18) and freshman Taylor Busch (21:31.92) also posted season-bests times at the meet.

WHO TO WATCH FOR
Despite being a young squad with 24 underclassmen on a 27-person roster, a strong group of sophomores will lead the way this season.

Tori Nida, Kyley Marano and fellow sophomore Brittany Beard are all key returnees for the Blue and White as the trio were a part of last year's 4x400m relay that just missed on setting the program record a season ago. Nida also recorded team season-bests a year ago in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:01.06, while Marano turned in team-bests in the 200-meter dash (26.95) and high jump (5-4.25/1.63m).

Wygant was a stud in her first year for IPFW with indoor season-bests in the long jump (14-7/1.63m), triple jump (31-3/9.52m) and pentathlon (2274).

Junior Andrea Bell, a veteran on this year's team, will be in the forefront for distance running as she recorded a team-best time of 18:24.24 in the 5,000-meter event during the 2013-14 indoor season.

~ Feel the Rumble ~