Indoor Track & Field Off to the 2024 AAC Indoor Championships This Weekend

Friday, February 23

Birmingham, Alabama

Tulane University

American Athletic Conference

Indoor Track & Field Off to the 2024 AAC Indoor Championships This Weekend

Feb 22, 2024 | Track & Field

Championship Central | Live Results | Live Video (Friday) | Live Video (Saturday)

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane indoor track & field program is back in action and on the road this weekend as the program participates in the 2024 American Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships in Birmingham, Ala. at the Birmingham CrossPlex. The action starts on Friday at 9 a.m. with the 60m hurdles of the women's pentathlon. The second day on Saturday begins for Tulane at 11:45 a.m. with the women's triple jump.

This is the eighth straight year that the AAC Indoor Championships will be held at the Birmingham CrossPlex. The two days of the meet will also be broadcasted on ESPN+ with Trevor Fulkerson, Hayden Cox and Breanna Sorensen on the call.

The Tulane women's team placed fourth in the 2023 competition with 65.5 points. The fourth-place finish was the highest ever recorded by a Tulane team in the AAC and highest overall for the program since 1999 when competing in the Conference USA. The program had four that earned All-AAC honors in Kristen O'Handley (Pentathlon), Kara Steele (triple jump), Mackenzie Callahan (mile) and Victoria Robinson (800m). Additionally, O'Handley was named the AAC Indoor Most Outstanding Field Performer after her victory in the Pentathlon.

The Green Wave will send Janae Dean (800m, 4x400m relay), Danna Diaz (mile, 3000m), Alexis Esteves (4x400m relay, distance medley relay), Laura Fodor (pentathlon), Sofie Groeninger (pentathlon), Abigail Heck, Robyn Larkan (60m hurdles), Elena Liano-Rengel (800m, 4x400m relay), Sophia McNerney (3000m, distance medley relay), Patricija Ozolina (pentathlon), Gemma Rebollo (3000m, 5000m), Kate Sander (pole vault), Anna Schadel (distance medley relay), Karlijn Schouten (pole vault), Alyssa Taylor (4x400m relay, distance medley relay), Kaia Todd (pentathlon, triple jump) and Paula Vaquera (3000m, 5000m)

The meet starts on Friday at 9 a.m. with the 60m hurdles of the pentathlon. The running events begin with the trials of the mile at 1:05 p.m. Saturday starts off for Tulane with the women's triple jump at 11:45 a.m., while track gets going with the finals of the women's mile at 12:05 p.m.

Last time out, Tulane's Karlijn Schouten won the pole vault to help lead the indoor track and field team on Friday at the LSU Twilight Meet on Feb. 16, at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse. On the day the program had two events wins, 12 personal records and 21 top-10 finishes.

Schouten had a vault of 3.96m/12'11.75" to win the event.

Sophia McNerney also had an event victory in the mile with her time of 5:01.50. For her outstanding efforts, McNerney was the first Tulane athlete to be named the AAC Indoor Track Athlete of the Week since 2019 on Feb. 20.

Amanda Soldan set a personal record with a 5:19.42 in the mile

Gemma Rebollo finished as the runner-up in the women's 3000m with her 10:04.23. Brenda Ellis took fourth in the event with a personal record 10:33.66. Alex Sharp earned fifth with her personal record 10:38.64.

McNerney led a strong effort from the women's 800m group in finishing third with a 2:16.19. Abigail Heck earned fourth with a 2:16.22. Reese Ragland took fifth with a 2:16.47, while Brianna Kirsch picked up eighth with her 2:20.70.

The men's 800m group had a pair of top-five finishes as Jalen St. Fort placed third with a 1:55.81 and Charles Henne took fifth with his 1:58.28.

Sam Cohen earned fourth in the men's mile with his personal best of 4:24.29.

Norah Bice set a personal record in earning sixth in the women's shot put with her toss of 12.52m/41'01.00". Bella Gonzalez placed eighth with a throw of 11.78m/36'07.75"

Dekel Regev had a pair of top-10 finishes in earning 10th in both the long jump (5.87m/18'03.25") and the shot put (11.91m/39'01.00") at the meet.

The men's 3000m group also set a pair of personal records as Albert Tawil-Brown ran an 8:41.49 to earn seventh and Chase Cartwright put up an 8:49.15 for eighth.

Shamiso Zihumo placed eighth in the women's triple jump with a 10.37m/34'00.25".

Tolu Ajayi took ninth in the women's 200m in a season-best time of 26.36.

Francisco Roman III also set a personal record with his 22.61 in the 200m in placing ninth. Lee Harris earned ninth with his personal record 23.39.

Roman also had a personal best in the 60m hurdles (9.20).

Tulane currently has 15 that rank in the top-10 in the AAC in an event. Janae Dean is second in the women's 800m (2:07.34). Elena Liano-Rengel is fourth in the women's 800m (2:09.27). Danna Diaz is second in the women's mile (4:44.42) and fifth in the 3000m (9:34.45). Illia Kunin is second in the men's 3000m (7:55.54) and is second in the mile (4:06.06). Paula Vaquera is third in the 3000m (9:31.88). Jack Jennings is second in the 5000m (13:56.71). Paul James Pam is fourth in the 5000m (14:16.01). Ryan Adkins is sixth in the 5000m (14:43.73). The men's 4x400m relay team of Zander Dunbar, Charles Henne, Jalen St. Fort and Kunin is ninth in their event (3:20.38). The women's 4x400m relay team of Laura Fodor, Alyssa Taylor, Liano-Rengel and Dean are ninth in their event (3:50.57). Karlijn Schouten is fourth in the women's pole vault (4.00m). Fodor is third in the pentathlon (3732 points) and Sofie Groeninger is seventh in the pentathlon (3560 points).

The program also has two event squads that rank among the top 41 nationally. The pentathlon group of Laura Fodor, Sofie Groeninger, Patricija Ozolina and Kaia Todd are 10th nationally with 13,954 points and an average of 3,488 points. The 800m group of Janae Dean, Elena Liano-Rengel, Anna Schadel and Danna Diaz is 41st nationally with an 8:44.89 total and an average of 2:11.22 per person.

During indoor season for the 2022-23 school year, O'Handley ended the year by achieving All-American status in the Pentathlon. During outdoor season, the Tulane women placed sixth overall with 63 points. The finish was Tulane's best since 2016. The Tulane men finished eighth during outdoor season with 26 points. The program totaled nine All-Conference selections during outdoor season in Janae Dean (1st – women's 800m), Victoria Robinson (3rd – women's 800m), Kara Steele (3rd – women's triple jump), Mackenzie Callahan (3rd - women's 1500m), Aaron Gilliam (3rd – men's 1500m), Bradley Makuvire (3rd – men's 5,000m), Mackenzie Callahan (2nd – women's 3000m steeplechase), Maren Butler (3rd – women's shot put), Margot Temines (3rd – women's heptathlon). O'Handley ended the outdoor season by achieving All-American status in the Heptathlon.

Next, the program sees which members of the team qualify for the 2024 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Boston, Massachusetts from March 8-9. The squad will start outdoor season on March 15-16 at the Louisiana Classics in Lafayette.

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