Lansing Sun

Michigan State University's track and field teams concluded their participation in the Big Ten Outdoor Championships with notable performances. The men's team finished eighth, while the women's team secured the 10th spot. The men scored 61 points, marking their best performance since 2009 when they accumulated 62 points. The women gathered a total of 25 points over the three-day event.

Lauren Freeland stood out by winning the women's 1500m title, finishing with a time of 4:14.55. This victory makes her only the second woman from Michigan State to win this event at the Big Ten championships, following Leah O'Connor's win in 2014.

Ryan Talbot also claimed an individual conference title for Michigan State in the decathlon. He achieved his second career Big Ten decathlon gold with a season-best score of 7,535.

Heath Baldwin was another key performer for Michigan State, scoring a total of 17 points across four events. His achievements included podium finishes in javelin, long jump, high jump, and the 110m hurdles finals.

Other notable performances included Luke Perelli earning bronze in the men's 1500m and contributions from underclassmen Dalton DeBeau and Adam Blue in discus and pole vault respectively.

Nebraska won the men's outdoor conference championship with a total of 136 points, while Minnesota topped the women's competition with 131 points.

Lisa Breznau, Director of Cross Country & Track and Field at Michigan State University stated: "Our program showed great growth this weekend. I'm really proud of our staff and student-athletes."

Some Spartans now await confirmation on whether their season-best marks will qualify them for further competition at the NCAA Eastern Regional Preliminary later this month.