Rutgers’ Izaiah Brown Wins Third Straight Big Ten 400m Title

The Big Ten Indoor Track & Field Championships took place in Geneva, Ohio at the SPIRE Institute this past Friday and Saturday. It was an opportunity for junior Izaiah Brown to defend his 400m title for a second time. It was a close race to the finish, but Brown leaned forward to barely edge out Iowa’s Mar’yea Harris in the end. It was the third consecutive Big Ten title for Brown, who ran a time of 46:23, just three one-hundredths of a second ahead of Harris. Watch the thrilling race here.

Brown, the Big Ten’s record holder in the 400m for his time last year of 45:38, also a Rutgers program record, spoke about his latest triumph on Saturday in the below interview.

Also making the 400m Final, freshman Taj Burgess ran a personal best of 46:96, finishing in fifth place.

Another notable performance on the track included freshman Boaz Madeus, who finished with a time of 1:18.19 in the 600m Final for a fifth place finish.

On the women’s side, junior Oniesha Clarke finished in fourth in the 60m Final, running a time of 7:44, just eight hundredths of a second behind the winner, Carmiesha Cox of Purdue.

In the field events, sophomore Perry Christie finished seventh in the high jump with a distance of 2.08m. Fellow sophomore Tobi Tella finished eighth in the triple jump with a distance of 14.99m.

Overall, both the Rutgers men’s and women’s teams finished in last place at the Big Ten Indoor Championships. The men produced 21 points, the least of all 11 teams at the event. The women produced 5 points, all from Clarke’s performance, which resulted in the lowest total of the 13 schools at the event.

Rutgers will now prepare for the the IC4A Championships from March 2nd through 4th in Boston, Massachusetts. The NCAA Indoor Championship is the following weekend in College Station, Texas. After that, the Outdoor Track & Field season will begin. Stay tuned for our coverage throughout the Spring.