Isenbarger and Rolle finish third at C-USA Indoor Championships

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – WKU Athletics Katie Isenbarger and Demetrius Rolle placed third in their respective events to step onto the podium on the second and final day of the 2022 USA Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships. Both competitors are now the third team in all conferences for the year in room 2022.

The women’s team recorded their best team result since the indoor championships in 2019, finishing 10th with 22 points, while the men scored 30 points to finish eighth.

“I think we had a good performance this weekend,” the cross country/athletics director said. Brent Chumbley. “Considering the small group we had, the men and women fought for every point we won. We scored more than expected, so I’m proud of the team effort. We need more people to fill in the gaps from the events we could “I’m not filling this weekend, and it’s up to the staff to work harder and get more people to The Hill. Looking ahead, I think this team is better suited for the away side and I will expect more from us as the season progresses.”

Isenbarger cleared a height of 1.78 meters (5′ 10″) to finish third from the high jump pit, scoring six points for the women’s team. Grace Turner also scored in this event for the second straight year, finishing sixth and scoring three points.

After qualifying for the 60-metre final, Rolle ran a 6.75 (6.747) on Sunday to earn a bronze medal in the event and score six points.


“I was very proud of Demetrius competing this weekend, especially being in lane one,” the assistant coach said. Tosha Ansley. “We would have liked to be in the center lane in the middle of the track with everyone, but things happen. The most important thing for him was to stay focused and run his race. I was very proud of him and the way he ran to the best of his ability. Do we want gold? Always. But I’m always happy with them when they get on the podium because we’re trying to go for school records.


Out of the sprint group, Cedric Johnson competed in the 60-meter hurdles final and finished eighth to score another point for the men’s team.


“As for CJ (Johnson), I’m very proud that he made it to the 60m hurdles final,” Ansley added. “It’s been a long season for him in that aspect because he’s come running in the 9s and now he’s doing mid-8s. He’s still learning and developing and I look forward to his continued development as we enter outdoors. I’m always super proud of the kids in how they do and in the competition. We’ll see how they do outdoors.


On the far side of things, Heckman Savannah once again put on an outstanding performance, taking seventh place in the women’s 3k with a time of 9:39.86, which puts her fourth in the WKU women’s indoor record books in this event. The time was a 10 second improvement from his previous PR.



Dedrick Troxell just missed out on the podium, finishing fourth in the men’s mile by five hundredths of a second. He clocked 4:10.48 to score five points for the Hilltoppers. Clint Sherman raced alongside Troxell in the event and finished ninth.

“The goal of this meeting is always to bring together our best performances by taking what we learned about ourselves in regular season meetings and applying that knowledge here. Some were able to do it, some weren’t. “, noted the assistant coach. Brooks The Count. “Nothing is given in this sport, you have to be able to go out and take it. I want to scream Heckman Savannahwho from day one trusted me as a coach and did everything to be the best athlete possible.


Through all the bad runs, injuries and other setbacks, her determination and belief in me and herself never wavered. She had a great encounter in arguably the most competitive indoor C-USA encounter in our program’s history. She is now on the WKU all-time lists in the 3k to go along with her mile and 5k rankings. She cemented herself in WKU distance running history, which is a very difficult feat. The best part is that we still have the outdoor season for one more outing.”


Finishing Sunday’s score for WKU were pitchers Kaison Barton and John Elam. In the men’s shot put, Barton finished fourth throwing 16.71 meters while Elam threw 15.70 meters to finish eighth. They scored five points and one point respectively.


WKU will kick off the outdoor season with the Ole Miss Classic on March 25-26.



Women results

60m preliminaries
15^and – Queen Sofa – 7.73

800m preliminaries
19^and – Elyssa Toal – 2:25.48

3000m
7^and – Heckman Savannah – 9:39.86 – 2 points*

5000m
4^and – Heckman Savannah – 16:55.62 – 5 points
17^and – Lucy Rutherford – 17:52.69

Pentathlon
13^and – Samyzia Sears – 2911 points*
14^and – Rachel Payne – 2531 dots
15^and – Audrey Griffin – 2508 points*

DMR
ten^and – Jenna Vaughn, Abigail Green, Madeleine Powell, Elyssa Toal – 12.48.87

Shot put
5^and – Ajla Basic – 17.97m (58′ 11.5″) – 4points*
7^and – Aïtana Safont Falomir – 17.74m (58′ 2.5″) – 2 points*
15^and – Ines Lopez Arias – 16.04m (52′ 7.5″)
18^and – Taylor Thrasher-Walker – 15.08m (49′ 5.75″)
26^and – Marie-Claire Redden – 13.13m (43′ 1″)*

Shot put
14^and – Ines Lopez Arias – 12.69m (41′ 7.75″)*

Pole vault
11^and – Grace Turner – 3.56m (11′ 8″)

Nikki Ogorek – NH

big jump
3^rd – Katie Isenbarger – 1.78m (5′ 10″) – 6 points
6^and – Grace Turner – 1.69m (5′ 6.5″) – 3 points*
12^and – Allison Anrett – 1.59m (5′ 2.5″)

long jump
19^and – Samyzia Sears – 5.41m (17′ 9″)



Results Men

60m preliminaries
7^and – Demetrius Rolle – 6.72 – qualified*
13^and – Steven Simmons – 6.93

60m finals
3^rd – Demetrius Rolle – 6.75 (6.747) – 6 points

60m preliminary hurdles
6^and – Cedric Johnson – 8.49 – qualified

60m hurdles final
8^and – Cedric Johnson – 8.52 – 1 point

200m preliminaries
15^and – Demetrius Rolle – 22.18
18^and – Gabriel Dozier – 10:26 p.m.

400m preliminaries
13^and – Zackery Martinez – 49.78*

800m preliminaries
18^and – Jordan Eddie – 1:57.86*
19^and – Trey Kraimer – 1:58.07

Preliminary Mile
6^and – Clint Sherman – 4:16.31 – qualified
7^and – Dedrick Troxell – 4:12.09 – qualified

Mile Finals
4^and – Dedrick Troxell – 4:10.48 – 4 points
9th – Clint Sherman – 4:14.81

3000m
26^and – Keegan Barnette – 8:56.00

Clint Sherman – DNF

5000m
16^and – Keegan Barnette – 15:44.23

DMR
5^and – Clint Sherman, Jordan Eddie, Trey Kraimer, Dedrick Troxell – 10:09.13 – Fourth fastest in program history – 4 points

Relay 4×400 meters
8^and – Zackery Martinez, Gabriel Dozier, Steven Simmons, Jaden Warner – 3:19.76

Pole vault
5^and – Devon Montgomery – 4.74m (15′ 6.5″) – Third best in program history – 4points*

Shot put
6^and – Brett Brannon – 17.46m (57′ 3.5″) – 3 points
ten^and – John Elam – 16.30m (53′ 5.75″)
11^and – Joel Ditoe – 15.55m (51′ 0.25″)
12^and – Kaison Barton – 15.07m (49′ 5.5″)

Shot put
4^and – Kaison Barton – 16.71m (54′ 10″) – 5 points
8^and – John Elam – 15.70m (51′ 6.25″) – 1 point

Triple jump
11^and – Cedric Johnson – 13.69m (44′ 1″)*


*denotes collegiate RP