Terre Haute, IN – The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Fightin' Engineers captured the men’s title on Saturday in the 2024 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Men’s Indoor Track and Field Championship. The team's narrow championship win over Manchester University was the closest in HCAC Indoor Track and Field Championship history.
Rose-Hulman finished the championship with a team score of 193, just edging out Manchester University, whose team tallied 189 points. Bluffton University had 97 points to finish in third place, followed by Hanover College (54 points) in fourth place. Franklin College (33 points), Mount St. Joseph University (29 points) and Anderson University (25 points) finished in fifth, sixth, and seventh places, respectively. Defiance college (8th place with 21 points), Transylvania University (9th place with 16 points) and Earlham College (10th place with 6 points) rounded out the competing institutions.
COMPLETE RESULTS
CHAMPIONSHIP PICTURES
PODIUM PICTURES
Championship Superlatives:
Men’s Newcomer of the Year: Kenneth Redd, Manchester
Men’s Most Outstanding Throws Athlete of the Year: Gabriel Hendricks, Manchester
Men’s Most Outstanding Jumps Athlete of the Year: Timothy Youndt, Rose-Hulman
Men’s Most Outstanding Sprints/Hurdles Athlete of the Year: Jailen Hobbs, Rose-Hulman
Men’s Most Outstanding Distance Athlete of the Year: Enrique Salazar, Manchester
Men’s Coaching Staff of the Year: Manchester University, led by head coach Brian Cashdollar. Assistant Coaches are: Hannah Didion, Sam Katon, and Andre White.
All-Conference Honors:
Each athlete and relay team that finished their respective events in First Place are named to the First Team HCAC All-Conference; Second Place finishers are named to the Second Team HCAC All-Conference; and Third Place finishers are named to the Honorable Mention HCAC All-Conference Teams.
Event-by-event thumbnail:
After a fantastic day of competition, the men's teams from Manchester University and Rose-Hulman Instittue of Technology were all tied at 183 points with only the 4 x 400 meter relay standing between each team and the HCAC Championship title. Despite school best runs by three of the other four relay teams in their heat, the Engineers prevailed in the relay race, and therefore the championship, by laying down a school best time time of their own (3:26.37). The 4 x 400 relay team from Rose-Hulman is composed of: Raymond Bates, Andrew Shields, Connor Bodie and Jacob Eve.
The day got started on the track in the 5000 meter, with Manchester taking two of the top-three slots with Enrique Salazar earning his forth-straight HCAC indoor win in the event with a time of 15:01.68.
In the Distance Medley Relay, it was Manchester who took first place, with the team of Gavin Byerly, Ryan Fox, Jonah Richards and Connor Havens teaming up for a time of 10:48.70.
In the 4x200 relay it was the Rose-Hulman team of Prescott Bracket, Jack Cox, Ian Lemons, and Jailen Hobbs who finished first, with a time of 1:30.30. That time set an HCAC conference record, and a Rose-Hulman SRC facility record.
In the mile run, Enrique Salazar won his second individual event of the day, finishing with a time of 4:20.69. Salazar took his third individual medal of the day in the 800-meter run, finishing with a 1:55.90.
In a tightly contested 60 meter dash, Jailen Hobbs of Rose-Hulman came out on top, besting the competition and setting a new HCAC record mark with a run of 6.83 seconds. Desmond Gist from Bluffton defended his titles from both 2022 and 2023 in winning the 60 meter hurdles in a time of 8.20. In the 400 meter dash, Tawon Cannon of Defiance finished on top, with a winning run of 50.73.
In the 200 meter dash, Jailen Hobbs ran a time of 22.42 to pick up the win for Rose-Hulman.
In the final individual event of the championship, Manchester's Enrique Salazar won the 3000 meter race (ran in 8:34.24), capping off a fantastic day and a fourth gold medal to go with his other three.
In the field events, the weight throw kicked off the day and saw Anderson’s Micahel Sweigart’s throw a personal best of 18.07 meters placed him on top of the podium. In the other throwing event, the shot put, Gabriel Hendricks of Manchester bested the competition with a throw of 15.49 meters.
In the high jump, Kyle Brownell from Rose-Hulman cleared a height of 1.99 meters to take first in the event, his third straight conference championship title in that event.
In the long jump, Kenneth Redd from Manchester picked up the win, with a leap of 7.00 meters.
In the pole vault, Rose-Hulman’s Kolton Nanko won the event by clearing a height of 4.30 meters. Another Fightin’ Engineer, Timothy Youndt, concluded the day's field events by winning the triple jump event for the second year in a row with a distance of 14.21 meters.
For more information on HCAC Track and Field, visit the websites of any of the participating schools, or go to the HCAC's home on the internet at www.heartlandconf.org. Be sure to stay up to date on all of your Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference news by following @HCACDIII on Twitter and by liking the "HCAC DIII" Facebook page.