Distance Crew Leads Butler To Horizon League Meet

INDIANAPOLIS, IND. -- Butler will look to a strong distance crew to carry its bid at the 2012 Horizon League Indoor Track and Field Championship, which starts on Saturday, Feb. 25, at Youngstown State in Youngstown, Ohio.  The two-day meet will be held at the Watson and Tressel Training Site on Youngstown State’s campus.

The Bulldogs placed third in both the men’s and women’s competitions a year ago.  Milwaukee captured both the men’s and women’s titles, while Detroit finished runner-up in the men’s competition and Youngstown State came in second in the women’s championship.

Head coach Matt Roe boasts one returning individual champ and two other runners who captured second place finishes at the league meet a year ago.  Junior Kirsty Legg is back after winning league titles in both the women’s 800 and the women’s mile in each of the past two years.  She enters this year’s championship as the top seeded runner in both the women’s mile and the women’s 3,000 meter run.

Junior Katie Clark (above), who placed second in both the women’s mile and the women’s 3,000 meter run a year ago, also returns, and she has the league’s second best time in both events this season.  She also has the league’s best time in the women’s 5,000 meter run.

And sophomore Ross Clarke is back after placing runner-up in both the men’s 800 and the men’s mile last year.  Clarke owns the league’s best 3,000 meter time and the circuit’s second-best mile time this year.

Butler also boasts two of the league’s top newcomers, freshmen Tom Curr and Mara Olson.  Curr owns the league’s top time in the men’s mile, the league’s second-best time in the men’s 800 and the conference’s third-best time in the men’s 3,000.  Olson has the top women’s time in the 800 and the third-best time in the mile.

The Bulldogs will enter the league championship with the top three individuals in the men’s mile (Curr, Clarke, Craig Jordan), the men’s 3,000 meter run (Clarke, Callum Hawkins, Curr) and the women’s mile (Legg, Clark, Olson), and the top two performers in the women’s 3,000 meter run (Legg, Clark) and the women’s 5,000 meter run (Clark, Lauren McKillop).

The conference meet will begin on Saturday at 9 a.m. (ET) and will conclude on Sunday, Feb. 26.