SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento State track and field teams will culminate their indoor seasons at the 2022 Big Sky Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships in Bozeman, Mont., starting on Thursday. The first day of the meet will consist of the pentathlon and heptathlon. The multis will continue into Friday where the main program will also begin. The meet concludes on Saturday.
All three days of competition will be streamed on ESPN+ in windows listed below:
Thursday: 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. PT
Friday: 9:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m., 10:00 a.m. -11:30 p.m. (or end of pole vault), 1:45 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. PT
Saturday 9:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. PT
Sacramento State will be represented by 18 women and 15 men at the meet. Since the Hornets did not compete during the 2021 indoor season, the meet will mark the first indoor conference championships for 26 of the 33 Sacramento State student-athletes.
On Thursday, the team will be represented by Abby Sheets in the pentathlon and Joshua Braun and Jack Charlton in the heptathlon. All three will be making their collegiate debuts in those events.
The main program of the meet opens on Friday at 2 p.m. PT with the men's weight throw, men's long jump, women's high jump and women's 60-hurdles trials all getting underway at the same time. The day will end with finals in the men's and women's 5K as well as the distance medley relay.
Sacramento State will be represented in the women's 5K by Cagnei Duncan and Hailey Rutter. Duncan will also return in the DMR where she will team with Mia Lawrence, Jaliah Brice Moore and Sarah Collier.
Saturday begins with the women's weight throw and men's triple jump at 9:30 a.m. PT. The first running event will be the women's mile final at 11 a.m. The meet will end with the men's and women's 4x400 relays starting at 2:30 p.m. PT.
The Hornet women will be led in the sprints by LaTrouchka Duke who enters the meet ranked fourth in the 60 and sixth in the 200 with adjusted times of 7.58 and 24.87. Daysha Ford will also be entered in the 200 where she ranks 17th with a best of 25.51.
The team will have three entries in the 400 where Mia Lawrence owns a school season best of 59.02. Ford and Brice Moore will also compete in the event. Sarah Collier will be the lone Hornet in the women's 800. Collier has run 2:16.83 in the event and is seeded 16th in the conference.
Along with Duncan and Rutter in the 5K, senior Rachel Victor will run the 3K on Saturday. Victor will be competing at that distance for the first time this season.
Kameryn Brown will run in the 60-hurdles to start the meet on Friday. Brown set her fastest time of 9.10 at the Don Kirby Open in her latest meet.
In the women's field events, Jayla Flowers and Alexia Croffet both bring in triple jumps which rank among the top 15 in the Big Sky this season. Flowers has a best of 38-01.50 which places her seventh while Croffet ranks 13th at 37-00.50.
Freshmen Izzi Leonard and Sheets will both compete in the high jump. Leonard cleared 5-05.25 at the WSU Open which places her seventh in the Big Sky this year. Sheets is tied for 17th with a best of 5-03.00.
Shantel Nnaji and Abby Meder will pull double duty in the shot put and weight throw. Nnaji leads the team in both events and is third in the Big Sky in the shot put and fourth in the weight throw. Nnaji's best shot put was 49-02.50 at the Lumberjack Team Challenge and her longest weight throw was 58-01.75 at the Don Kirby Open. Meder is eighth in the shot put with a best of 44-03.25 and ranks 10th in the weight throw (53-05.50).
Joining the duo in the shot put will be Deanna Gaines and Breanna Espinoza. Both freshmen set PRs at the Don Kirby Open with marks of 43-05.25 and 41-04.50, respectively. Erin Whelan is entered in the weight throw where she has a 2022 best of 52-05.25 set at the WSU Open.
Blaize Holland and DeVonn Johnson will both make their Big Sky Indoor Championships debut in the 60 and 200 for the men. Holland is seventh in the Big Sky in the 60 with an adjusted best of 6.86 set at the Lumberjack Team Challenge. His fastest 200 was 21.91 at the same meet. Johnson ranks second on the team in the 60 at 7.02 is is third in the 200 at 22.40.
Jabari Reynolds will compete in the 200 and 400. Reynolds, who did not compete until the final regular season meet, leads the Hornets, and is seventh in the Big Sky, in the 200 after running 21.86 at the Don Kirby Open. He also ranks fifth in the league in the 400 with a time of 48.48.
The freshmen tandem of Nautus Moore and Khalil Fowlkes will also run the 400. Moore has run 50.20 at the WSU Open which places him second on the team. Fowlkes set his best of 51.38 at the Don Kirby Open.
The only other Hornet to compete in the men's running events will be Jack Charlton who's entered in the 60-hurdles. Charlton set his best in the event at the Don Kirby Open where he ran 8.78.
Freshman Miles Grant ranks sixth in the Big Sky in the high jump. Grant cleared 6-08.75 at the WSU Open. The team will also have one entry in the pole vault where John Gibbs has a best of 14-03.25 this season.
In the long jump, Mason Mitchell sits just outside the top 10 in the league with a long of 22-05.25 at the Don Kirby Open. He will be joined by Jaren Johnson in the event. Johnson had a leap of 21-10.75 at the Lumberjack Team Challenge for his best.
Johnson and Gibbs will also take part in the triple jump. Gibbs owns a season best of 46-06.00 which came at the WSU Open. Johnson had a triple jump of 44-08.75 at the Lumberjack Team Challenge.
The Hornets will have two entries in the shot put and three in the weight throw. The only individual in both events is George Harris who has season bests of 51-06.25 in the shot put and 56-02.50 in the weight throw. Freshman Sawyer Howard ranks eighth in the Big Sky in the shot put at 53-10.50.
Evan Stork headlines the men's entries in the hammer. Stork ranks fifth in the Big Sky with a best of 63-05.00. John Maka is 10th in the league at 59-01.25. Both set their marks at the Don Kirby Open.
