CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Madison Meredith captured a pair of individual titles to bring Missouri State's meet total to four and cap the Bears' weekend at the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championship here Sunday.
 
Meredith closed the books on a sensational debut season for MSU, claiming titles in both sprint races to earn MVC Most Valuable Athlete and Most Outstanding Track Athlete distinctions after finishing with a meet-high 20.75 points.  She dusted the competition in the 60-meter dash with a personal-record time of 7.32 before collecting her second gold medal of the afternoon in the 200-meter run with a 24.33 time. 
 
Boosted by their four event titles – two in the sprints along with two in the horizontal jumps – MSU finished fifth in the team standings after tallying 73 points at the three-day competition.  Illinois State (118) clinched its fourth straight Valley crown while Southern Illinois (118) and Northern Iowa (107) rounded out the top three.
 
"I couldn't be more proud of the athletes and staff for giving everything they had for the team over the last three days," said head coach Jordan Fife.  "It was an exciting meet for our team and it will give us a lot of momentum heading into the outdoor season."
 
On her way to first in the 60m, Meredith broke the school's indoor record by topping Marissa Kurtimah's 7.37 mark from 2016.  In her first year with the Bears, Meredith put together one of the program's best indoor campaigns by winning all six individual races she competed in, including today's highlight-reel performance.
 
Joining Meredith on the podium in the 60m was Calandra Henry who made it a Bears top three as she took the bronze on a personal-best 7.55 time.  Henry placed sixth in the 60m at last year's Valley championship.  Nakaja Weaver topped off MSU's fruitful event by adding four more points on her fifth-place finish.  She clocked a personal record as well, crossing the finish line at the 7.62 point.
 
"Madi was nothing short of extraordinary today as she completed a historic double by winning the 60m in a new school record time and then dominating a tough field in the 200m," added Jordan Fife.  "Calandra had an amazing performance of her own in the 60m with a big personal best and all-conference finish.  Nakaja ran great as well in her debut to pick up big points in that event."
 
On the field side of things, Jessica Haney took fourth in the high jump for the second straight year.  She cleared the bar at the 1.74-meter mark, improving on her 1.70m leap from the 2020 meet.
 
In the 60-meter hurdles, Talia Emerson finished seventh with her time of 8.97, just missing on matching her personal best in the event (8.96).
 
Edna Dar added another seventh-place finish to MSU's day after registering a time of 2:13.42 in the 800-meter run.  She finished just steps behind Illinois State's Rachel Hickey (12:12.94) and Bradley's Tiana LoStracco (12:12.06).
 
The Missouri State 4x400-meter relay team of Dar, Meredith, Mackenzie Ihasz and Manuela Ngo Tonye Nyemeck took sixth in the event, recording a combined 3:55.84 time.  The Bears' relay came up just short of catching Indiana State (3:54.88) who entered the meet's final race tied with MSU at 70 points apiece.
 
"To be in a position going in to the last event to move up in the standings from where we were picked to finish is all you can ask for," acknowledged Fife.  "We ran a season best in the 4x400 relay but fell short by less than a second of moving ourselves into a fourth-place team finish."
 
Missouri State now turns its attention to the outdoor season with Southeast Missouri State's Joey Haines Invitational kicking things off on April 2 – 3.  It will be the first outdoor competition for the Bears since 2019 after last year's cancellation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.