YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Despite competing in just two events on Saturday (May 10), the IU Indianapolis men's track team had a spectacular evening on the oval at the 2025 #HLTF Outdoor Championships ahead of Sunday's finale. The Jaguars punched four tickets to the finals of the 800m event while also earning points with seventh and eighth place finishes in the 3,000m steeplechase to cap the evening. 

More impressive was that all six point scorers were underclassmen, including four true freshmen. 

The Jaguars were nearly flawless in the 800m preliminaries, ultimately filling half of the finals through their efforts. Freshman Joey Ashman won his race in a time of 1:51.87, just ahead of Luke Shappell's personal best time of 1:52.19. In the fourth and final heat, Riley Nixon overtook teammate Nick Cook late in the race for a winning time of 1:52.57, taking four seconds off his prior best. Cook earned a wild card spot with a time of 1:52.77, making the finals by more than a quarter second. 

In the earlier heats, freshman Jaydon Steidinger ran a personal best time of 1:54.87, taking three seconds off his previous best. Jay Pillai registered a time of 1:56.34 in the same race. 

To close out the night, true freshman Alec Hueftle led the team's four entries in the 3K steeple with a time of 9:23.74, shedding eight seconds off his prior best. Noah Price claimed the final scoring spot in a time of 9:29.35 to shave two seconds off his previous best mark. Nolan King ran a personal best time of 9:32.47 to place ninth and freshman Carter Schorr ran 9:59.83 in the earlier heat. 

The Jaguars closed out day two with eight points in the scoring column, but are positioned to score well on Sunday with Shappell in the 1,500m finals and four others slated for the 800m event. 

Youngstown State leads the men's scoring with 93 points, easily outdistancing second-place Milwaukee's 50 heading into Sunday's finale.