INDIANAPOLIS- The Great Midwest indoor track & field season is off and running for the 2024-25 academic year.
 
Tiffin enters the season as the reigning champs on the men’s side. The Dragons opened their season last weekend competing at Hillsdale, Grand Valley, and their home alumni meet.
 
2023-24 Indoor Coach of the Year Kevin Kean returns a host of all-conference performers from last year’s championship team. Joshua Page returns for coach Kean after collecting two first-place finishes at the conference meet last season. Page took home the gold in the 400 meter with a time of 46.43. He also ran a leg of the first place 4x400 relay team that clocked a time of 3:12.56.
 
One of the conference’s top throwers return from last season in Ben Haas. Haas won the weight throw at the conference meet last season and went on to earn all-American status at the national meet with a sixth place overall finish.
 
For the women, Ashland won their first ever G-MAC indoor title last season under Coach of the Year A.G. Kruger. Kruger returns Freshman of the Year Hailey Rios who earned first team all-conference honors at the championship last season. Rios took home the gold in the long jump with a mark of 5.79m. Most recently, Ashland’s Molly Winner was awarded the field athlete of the week for her performance at the Saginaw Valley State Holiday Open. There, she took home two first place finishes in the shot put and weight throw. Winner currently sits as the No. 1 weight thrower in Division II.
 
The University of Findlay finished runner up for both the men and women after sweeping the indoor titles in 2023-24. Noah Fisher and Jordan Foster return for head coach Jared Krout as two of the region’s top distance runners. Fisher earned first place finishes in the 3,000m and 5,000m races last season, while Foster was runner-up in the mile and distance medley relay. For the women, first team all-conference runner Jordan Taylor already finds herself with the fastest 200m time in D2. The senior sprinter clocked a 200m time of 23.99 at the Oilers home meet. In addition to Taylor, the entire first-place 4x400 team of Mary Ellis, Taylor Ivory, and Kylie return for Findlay.
 
The conference will look to build off last year’s success, where over 50 student-athletes qualified for the national meet.
 
The 2024-25 Great Midwest Indoor Track & Field Championships will take place Feb. 28- March 1 at Ashland’s Niss Athletic Center.