Then-Greenwood senior Brayden Hafen and current IU Columbus freshman clears the bar on his way to a fourth-place finish in the pole vault during the Boys Track and Field State Finals June 6, 2025, at North Central.
Rob Baker | For The Republic
After competing in outdoor track and field for the first time last season, IU Columbus is participating in indoor track and field for the first time this winter.
The Crimson Pride had their first-ever indoor meet Saturday at Taylor’s Greg Glass Invitational. A three-meet indoor season will be followed by a four-meet outdoor season, with both seasons ending with the River States Conference championships.
“We’ve grown tremendously,” IUC coach Paul Hafen said. “We’ve gone from having 14 on the team in total last year to having 26 in Year 2. We are really excited because of that growth. We’ve had tremendous support from the administration, and they’ve cleared us to compete in both indoor and outdoor. My focus has been on conference indoor championship and conference outdoor championship.”
Hafen has 17 men and nine women on the teams.
“For as young as we are and relatively small as a team, we are going to turn some heads at conference,” Hafen said. “The athletes that we do have provide us with a lot of stability. They’re good, hard workers, they’re great examples and as we continue to grow, we’ll add depth to it.”
Hafen has brought in a talented freshman class, including his son Brayden Hafen, a pole vaulter from Greenwood. The Crimson Pride did not have any pole vaulters last year.
“There’s not a lot of pressure,” Brayden Hafen said. “But I definitely want to go out and do well for our school.”
Jordin Jones (freshman, Greenfield-Central) and Jaydon Layer (freshman, South Central) are the men’s team’s top sprinters. Luke Neibert (freshman, Indian Creek) and Jackson Neibert (sophomore, Indian Creek) lead the distance crew, and Alex Lozano (sophomore, Columbus North) leads the throwers.
“I’m excited to run,” Jaydon Layer said. “I know that I’ve grown a lot as an athlete this year. This is a huge jump for me.”
Two IUC women scored in the conference meet last season. Grace Barkes (junior, Columbus North) placed in the discus, and Madison Merritt (junior, Franklin County) scored in the sprints.
Newcomer Phoebe Dowty (freshman, Indian Creek) finished third in the 1,000 meters (2 minutes, 26.75 seconds) in Saturday’s indoor opener. Valarie Thompson (freshman, Southridge) placed seventh in 400 (1:12.31), and Alex Saavedra (freshman, Mishawaka Marian) was eighth in the long jump (4.26 meters/13 feet, 11 3/4 inches).
“We very well could win the (men’s) pole vault (at RSC),” Paul Hafen said. “Jaydon is in position to score. Phoebe could score in the middle distances. Grace Barkes in the history of IU Columbus was our first conference scorer in the discus, and she’ll be back to continue add points to our team score.”
Jones finished second in the 400 (52.40), and Brayden Hafen took sixth in the pole vault (4.25 meters/13-11 1/4) to lead the Crimson Pride men Saturday at Taylor. Emilio Rosales (18:06.96) and Chance Knapp (19:41.23) were sixth and seventh in the 5,000, Mason Herbert placed seventh in the long jump (6.09 meters/19-10 1/2), Henry Fleetwood finished ninth in the 1,000 (2:48.81) and Luke Neibert (1:27.12) and Jackson Neibert (1:28.16) were 10th and 12th in the 600.
IUC will continue the indoor season Feb. 7 at the Anderson Invitational, then will conclude it Feb. 20-21 at the River States Conference Indoor meet in Marietta, Ohio. The outdoor season begins March 12-14 at the Early Bird Invitational in Williamsburg, Kentucky, and concludes May 1-2 with the RSC meet at Rio Grande.
“We didn’t score a point last year on the men’s side, so our goal is to score points on the men’s side,” Paul Hafen said. “Our best opportunities for that are pole vault and short sprints on the men’s side and shot put and discus. The most depth we have is probably in the middle distances, so we might actually turn some heads with the 800, 4×800, mile, 4×400.
“Then on the women’s side, our only scorers were Grace and Maddie Merritt. If we can add some more scorers now… We brought in a hurdler. We have a great new hurdles coach. We have Phoebe to help in the middle distances. So we’re trying to spread around and just grab points in as many different events as we can, and along the way, if we can get some top-three All-Conference athletes, we would love to bring that to Columbus.”
