The Valparaiso University track & field teams shattered three program records on the first day of the 2023 Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships, cohosted by the Beacons alongside UIC at Gately Complex in Chicago on Sunday. Rhena Kiger (Crown Point, Ind. / Crown Point) outdid the program record in the women’s indoor pentathlon, while Ignacio Veloz Bonilla (San Juan, P.R. / American Military Academy) bettered his program mark in the men’s 800 and Evan Walda (Fort Wayne, Ind. / South Side) set a new standard in men’s 5000.

How It Happened

• Kiger accrued a pentathlon score of 2,577, besting the previous program mark of 2,516 that was set by Shannon Lahey in 2020.
• Veloz Bonilla continued his record-setting indoor season by stopping the clock in 1:51.70 in the men’s 800. He qualified for the 800 finals by finishing fourth in the prelims. The time outdid his own mark of 1:52.67 from earlier this season. Prior to this year, Alexander Bruno owned the program mark with his 2020 time of 1:52.93.
• Walda garnered a top-10 finish in the men’s 5000 with his time of 14:38.04. He outdid teammate Simeon Ehm’s program record of 14:38.70 that was set on Feb. 3 of this season at the Meyo Invitational.
• Valpo scored points in the men’s pole vault thanks to Tristan Malatlian (Pfafftown, N.C. / Reagan), who earned five points with a vault of 4.75 meters, placing fourth.
• The Beacons boasted a pair of top-5 times in the program record book in the women’s 5000 as Grace Aurand (Highland, Ind. / Highland) led the way with a personal record of 17:33.56 to place 15^th. That time is the fourth best in program history and the best by a Beacon since Jessica Richardson (17:33.29) in 2013.
• Aurand was followed closely by Joely Overstreet (Genoa, Ill. / Genoa-Kingston), who finished the 5000 in 17:42.47, a PR of her own. She also cracked the program’s all-time top 5, sitting in fifth.
• In the women’s 200, Kai Dilosa (Merrillville, Ind. / Lake Central) finished with a PR of 26.88. Marion Isaac (Evergreen Park, Ill. / Evergreen Park) also set a PR at 28.39. In the men’s 200, Lukas Sepulveda (Camano Island, Wash. / Stanwood) stopped the clock in 22.67.
• In the women’s mile, Maranda Donahue (Delton, Mich. / Delton-Kellogg) placed 14^th with a time of 5:05.61.

Up Next

The Beacons will close out the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships at Gately Complex in Chicago on Monday. The event will feature a live broadcast on ESPN+.