On your marks
The Washburn Ichabod track and field team will wrap up the Indoor season at the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships as three Ichabods have earned their way to Birmingham, Ala. for the 2021 championships. The women's squad has pole vaulters Virgi Scardanzan and Rachael Mayberry and the men's team will send hurdler Romain Henry.
Scardanzan was one of seven automatic qualifiers in the pole vault with a school record setting 4.12m (13-06.25) recorded at the MIAA Indoor Championships last week and she is the fifth-highest qualifier. Mayberry has the eight-best height entering the NCAA Division II Championships at 4.02m (13-02.25).
Henry is the eighth-fastest qualifying time in the 60m hurdles in a time of 8.08 set at the MIAA Indoor Championships setting a Washburn record.
 
Whose event is when
The 60m hurdles prelims are scheduled for 2:15 p.m. on Friday and the women's pole vault final is scheduled to start at 6:15 p.m. on Friday.
The 60m hurdles finals are scheduled for 2:10 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
 
Three dot thoughts about the Ichabods
Rachael Mayberry is making her fifth NCAA National Track and Field Championship appearance … more than any other Ichabod since restarting the program five years ago … this weekend is her fourth indoor appearance … she has received three indoor All-American honors and one outdoor All-American award.
Virgi Scardanzan is making her second NCAA Indoor Championship appearance following the 2020 indoor.
Romain Henry is making his first NCAA Indoor Championship appearance.
 
Year five
The Washburn track and field program is in year No. 5 this season.
 
Squad goals
The Ichabod men's track and field team has six event groups ranked in the top 10 in the nation. The long jump crew is ranked fourth as a unit and the 60m hurdles group is eighth. The high jump, pole vault and shot put groupings are ranked ninth in the nation.
On the women's side, the Ichabod pole vault unit is fourth in the nation while the 60m group is 23rd, the 3000m group is 24th and the 400m unit is 26th.
 
The host with the most
The MIAA Indoor Championships was the sixth event in the Washburn Indoor Facility wrapping up its first year of action.
 
Washburn Indoor Athletic Facility events by the numbers
Event                      Teams   Athletes   #Entries
MIAA Rust Buster            12              222                357
WU Kansas Open             71              317                504
Washburn Open                81              769                1218
Ichabod Invitational         72              854                1254
WU Juco Challenge*        18              221                353
WSU Shocker Invite*      11              221                323
MIAA Championships      12              483                707                               
*WU host site but did not compete
 
Coaching
Cameron Babb has led both the Ichabod track and field teams and cross country teams to steady improvements entering year five of the revamped programs. Between cross country and the track and field programs, Babb has coached 38 all-MIAA selections, 34 all-region picks, 20 All-Americans and 28 NCAA Championship qualifiers.
 
Up Next
The Ichabods will now turn their attention to the outdoor slate as they are scheduled to compete at the ESU Spring Invitational March 19 in Emporia.