The Valparaiso University men’s and women’s track & field programs opened the indoor season this weekend by participating in the John Coughlan Invite, hosted by Illinois State in Normal, Ill. The Beacons received first-place finishes from Micah Mullings (Minesing, Ontario, Canada / Barrie North) in the jumps and Anthony Vassolo (Tinley Park, Ill. / Andrew) in the sprints.

How It Happened

• Mullings picked up where he left off last season, when he earned Outdoor All-Missouri Valley Conference honors. He posted a long jump of 7.11 meters (23-4) to win the event, an indoor personal best and the second-best mark in program history. This marked Valpo’s best indoor long jump since Jarrett Mickens set the program record at 24-2.25 in 2011.
• Vassolo took the event title in the 200 at 23.41.
• On the women’s side, a pair of Valpo sprinters had strong debuts. Taylor Pusateri and Juliana Ferrara (Fox River Grove, Ill. / Cary-Grove) both qualified for finals in the 60m. Pusateri stopped the clock in 7.95 seconds to place fourth in the prelims, then got sixth in the finals at 7.96. Ferrara clocked an 8.08 in the prelims before finishing seventh in the finals at 7.99.
• In the women’s 200, Pusateri was second at 27.00 seconds, leading three Beacons in the top four as Ferrara was third at 27.42 and Kai Dilosa (Merrillville, Ind. / Lake Central) was fourth at 27.66.
• In the men’s 60 prelims, Vassolo set a personal record at 7.23 seconds to finish 13^th. In the 60 hurdles, Carter Ostrander (Portage, Ind. / Portage) was the runner-up at 9.29 seconds.
• In the distance, Amelia Tisdale (Franklin, Ind. / Franklin Community) led the team in the women’s mile at 5.58.68 to place sixth, while Alex Valeiro (Rockford, Ill. / Boylan Catholic) was sixth on the men’s side to lead the team at 4:42.32.
• In the throws, Will Rinker (Valparaiso, Ind. / Chesterton) topped the team in the men’s weight throw at 15.57m (51-1) to place third, while Tori Gerhardt (Westville, Ind. / Chesterton) paced the women with a heave of 15.8m (51-10), placing second.
• In the women’s high jump, Katelyn Hyde (Valparaiso, Ind. / Wheeler) placed fifth at 1.13m (3-8.5), while Chris Fleschut (Naperville, Ill. / Naperville Central) had a PR in the pole vault at 4.15m (13-7.25).
• Valpo’s top performer in the women’s shot put was Amelia Tandy (New Albany, Ind. / New Albany) at 11.73m (38-6) as she placed third.  

Up Next

The Beacons will participate in the Edmonds-Wilt Invitational hosted by Purdue on Saturday, Dec. 9 in West Lafayette, Ind.