The 2022 Missouri Valley Conference indoor track & field championships are underway as the Valparaiso University track & field team opened the two-day event on Sunday with a full day of action. For the first time since joining the conference, the Beacons are hosting the event as they are serving as the co-hosts alongside Loyola at Gately Park Track & Field Center in Chicago.  

How It Happened

• Eddie Juszczak (Lowell, Ind. / Lowell) turned in a top-10 finish in the finals of the men’s weight throw. His heave of 17.35 meters represented a new personal watermark, outdoing his previous best of 17.25. He was just shy of cracking the program’s all-time top five in that event, coming within a half of an inch of the current fifth-place mark.
• Valpo received a seventh-place finish from Tristan Malatlian (Pfafftown, N.C. / Reagan) in the finals of the men’s pole vault. He cleared 4.55m.
• Senior Michelle Pierce (Indianapolis, Ind. / Heritage Christian) was the top Beacon in the women’s weight throw finals, covering a distance of 16.38m to place 12^th, leading a group of five Valpo competitors.
• In the sprints, Nehemiah Ray (Chicago, Ill. / Brother Rice) turned in a 7.01 in the 60-meter dash prelims and replicated that time in the semifinals to finish 12^th in the semis. He outdid his previous PR of 7.05 from last week at Indiana State.
• Ray also had a good race in the 200-meter dash, clocking in at 22.27 in the prelims. The freshman was the 13^th runner to cross the finish line in that event and turned in another new PR.
• In the prelims of the women’s 800, Maranda Donahue (Delton, Mich. / Delton-Kellogg) led Valpo with a personal-best time of 2:22.15. She placed 12^th in that prelim race.
• Valpo was paced by Grace Aurand (Highland, Ind. / Highland) in the women’s mile prelim. She crossed the finish in 5:18.41, followed by teammate Kaitlynn Leady (Chesterton, Ind. / Chesterton), who PR’d at 5:47.47.
• Senior Ignacio Veloz Bonilla (San Juan, P.R. / American Military Academy) led the Valpo pack in the men’s 800 prelims. He was the ninth runner to cross the finish, posting a time of 1:54.59. That bettered his previous indoor personal best of 1:55.40.

Up Next

The two-day event will conclude on Monday at Gately Park in Chicago. Links to live results and an ESPN3 broadcast can be found on ValpoAthletics.com. Events are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m., and the live ESPN3 broadcast will air from 11:15 a.m. to 3:05 p.m. Valpo will have five representatives in the women’s 3000 (1:40 p.m.), five in the men’s 3000 (2:10 p.m.), a team in the men’s 4x400 (2:50 p.m.), two individuals in the men’s shot put (12:30 p.m.) and two in the men’s high jump (12:30 p.m.).