Multiple Spartans claim Big Ten titles at Outdoor Track & Field Championships

The Michigan State Spartans Track & Field team had a number of athletes take home Big Ten titles this past weekend at the 2022 Big Ten Outdoor Championships at the University of Minnesota Track & Field Stadium. While the women took eighth place overall and the men took 10th, three Spartans took home four Big Ten titles over the weekend’s events.

Opening Day

On the opening day of competition, defending Big Ten 5,000-meter (5,000m) champions Jenna Magness and Morgan Beadlescomb both took home the Big Ten crowns for the 10,000-meter (10,000m) title. Quiara Wheeler also brought home the silver in the women’s hammer throw.

Wheeler used a 63.80-meter throw on her second attempt and a season-best 63.95-meter toss on her third attempt to take home second place in the event. Meanwhile, Beadlescomb took the lead with around 600 meters left in the 10,000m and sprinted the final 200 meters to finish with a time of 28:54.93. It was his first time ever competing on the track at that distance. Magness also won the Big Ten title in her first time competing on the track in a 10,000m race, taking an early lead and never looking back as she finished with a time of 33:37.17.

Magness is just the third Spartan to win a Big Ten title in the 10,000m and is the first since Jamie Krzyminski did so in 2004. Both Magness and Krzyminski are the only Spartans to claim a title in both the 5,000m and 10,000m races. For the men, Beadlescomb became the first Spartan to win the 10,000m title since Kyle Baker in 1999 and just the fifth at MSU all-time. Baker and Beadlescomb are the only two Spartan men to win titles in both the 5,000m and 10,000m races.

On day two of the event, Ryan Talbot finished out the men’s decathlon with another Big Ten title for the Spartans, breaking the program record for decathlon score in doing so. Talbot opened the first day’s action with first place in the 100-meter dash with a personal record (PR) of 10.60 seconds, and he also took second place in both the long jump (PR of 7.06 meters) and 400-meter dash (PR of 47.82 seconds). A fifth-place finish in shot put and fourth-place finish in the high jump (PR of 1.91 meters) left him in second place at the end of opening day competition.

Day Two

On the second day, Talbot set PRs in the 110-meter hurdles (14.83 seconds for sixth place) and discus (47.98 meters for first place) with discus putting him in first place overall. He finished out the decathlon with further PRs in pole vault (5.20 meters for first) and the 1,500-meter run (4:43.97 for fifth), and took fourth in the javelin with a 53.32-meter throw.

In addition to Talbot, Heath Baldwin took home the bronze for the men in the decathlon as well. Baldwin set new PRs in the 100-meter dash and discus, while also taking first place in shot put and high jump (the only athlete to clear 2.03 meters in the event), and he finished second in the javelin.

Adding to the podium appearances for Michigan State, Kate Stewart-Barnett and Andrew Nolan both qualified in the steeplechase. Stewart-Barnett used a 10:15.69 time in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase to take home fourth place and Nolan had a great final lap to claim seventh place in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase with a time of 9:04.37. Both runners were making their debut in the event.

Final Day

The final day’s action was capped off by Magness repeating as the women’s 5,000-meter Big Ten champion with a finishing time of 16:17.88. Magness became the first Spartan to repeat as 5,000m champion since Krzyminiski in 2003-2004.

Other medal winners for the day included Katie Osika taking silver in the women’s 1,500-meter run and John Petruno taking bronze in the men’s 1,500-meter run. Osika finished with a time of 4:23.17 and earned second place after Michigan’s Samantha Tran was disqualified. Joining Osika on the podium for Michigan State in fourth place was Lauren Freeland, who finished in 4:24.10. Petruno finished for the men in 3:52.94, earning the bronze for the second-straight year in the event.

Magness, Beadlescomb and Baldwin were all named to the All-Big Ten first-team at the conclusion of the championships, while Osika and Quiara Wheeler earned All-B1G second-team honors.

Michigan State is next heading to the NCAA East Region Preliminary Round in Bloomington, Indiana on May 25-May 28.