METRO ROUNDUP: Coaching honors for Martin and Bettenhausen

May 24—Indiana State's Angie Martin was selected as the 2024 Missouri Valley Conference Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year, the conference office announced Friday.

Martin was selected by the league's head coaches as the Coach of the Year on both the men's and women's side after the Sycamores swept the 2024 MVC outdoor championships at the Gibson Track & Field Complex, completing an indoor-outdoor title sweep for both the men's and women's teams. It was the first time in program history that Indiana State won all four MVC track and field championships in the same year.

The Sycamores finished with a program record 221.5 points on the men's side, marking the first time in program history that Indiana State surpassed the 200-point mark at a conference championship. ISU also finished with 158 points on the women's side, the program's most since 2018.

As a team, Indiana State finished with 12 conference champions and 38 all-conference honors at the 2024 MVC outdoor championships. Included in those conference champions were a trio of Sycamores from Martin's hurdles and combined events groups, with Rachel Mehringer (100m hurdles), Collin Forrest (110m hurdles) and Jakes Ottersbach (decathlon) all winning gold at the MVC outdoor championships.

The Sycamores also qualified 17 athletes for the 2024 NCAA East first round, marking the third consecutive year of double-digit regional qualifiers. Indiana State's NCAA East first-round delegation was its largest since 2015.

Friday's announcement marks Martin's fifth MVC Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year honors (three men's, two women's).

In other track news:

—Assistant also named — Also on Friday, ISU assistant coach Brandan Bettenhausen was selected as the 2024 MVC Men's Outdoor Track and Field Assistant Coach of the Year.

Bettenhausen was selected by the league's head coaches as the Men's Assistant Coach of the Year after his throwers' instrumental role in Indiana State's MVC outdoor championship win at the Gibson Track & Field Complex.

Bettenhausen's throwers totaled 50 points across four events, with at least one top-five finish in all four throws disciplines. Each of Bettenhausen's throwers who competed at the MVC outdoor championships scored at least four points and recorded at least one top-five finish in an event.

He coached Elias Foor, who scored in all four events with three podium finishes, to MVC Most Valuable Athlete honors after he scored 26 points at the conference championships, while Brett Norton also placed on the podium in a pair of events. Foor and Norton both qualified for the NCAA East first round, with Foor making the regional round in multiple events.

—Foor qualifies — At Lexington, Ky., ISU's Elias Foor booked a spot in the NCAA outdoor national championships, advancing as one of the top 12 in the discus at the NCAA East first round Friday.

Foor recorded his top mark of 56.37m (184-11) on his final attempt, earning his first career NCAA national championship berth. He becomes the first Sycamore men's thrower to qualify for the national championships since Brandon Pounds in 2013 and the first Indiana State athlete to qualify in the men's discus since Charles Sparks in 2006.

—All-America honors for Engineer — At Myrtle Beach, S.C., Rose-Hulman senior Kyle Brownell earned first-team All-America honors with a sixth-place finish in the men's high jump Friday afternoon.

Brownell cleared a career-high mark of 6-feet-9.75 (2.08 meters) on his second attempt. The mark breaks the school record and ranks fourth all-time in HCAC history.

He is the 59th All-American in Rose-Hulman track and field history.

The All-America award for Brownell is the second of his career after a seventh-place finish in the 2022.

Softball

—Krause makes All-Region team — Saint Mary-of-the-Woods senior Lyric Krause has been named to the NFCA All-Region V Second Team, the national organization announced Friday.

Krause finished second in the River States Conference with a .441 batting average and was fourth in total hits with 63. Her 46 RBI were second-best in the entire River States Conference. Krause was tied for the team lead with five home runs. Krause added 13 doubles and a triple with 24 runs scored.

She was also a First Team All-River States Conference selection and was a member of the 2024 Daktronics NAIA Softball Scholar-Athlete Team.

The Pomeroys were 32-17 overall and 24-8 in River States Conference play. They finished with the No. 2 seed at the RSC Conference tournament and earned a 4-2 victory in the opener of the RSC tournament.