CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Redshirt senior Ryan Rutherford and freshman Amanda McClain posted Illinois State's first title events of the 2016 Missouri Valley Conference Championships. Rutherford captured his first ever Valley title in the men's 5,000-meter run, while McClain leaped her way to victory in the women's long jump.
Rutherford posted a tremendous race as he picked his way through the bunch from starting off near the back. Rutherford was battling through the final laps with Drake's Reed Fischer and Brady Johnson from Wichita State. Fischer was in the lead for the majority of the race, until Rutherford took over the lead with five laps reminding. With only two laps in the race, Rutherford made a move to separate himself from the group and he ended up being the champion by four seconds with a time of 14:24.03.
"I am so incredibly happy for Ryan," Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Jeff Bovee said. "He has been runner-up to a fine athlete, John Mascari who is not here but that does not diminish the accomplishment that Ryan achieved today. It was incredibly gratifying as a coach seeing Ryan go out and win his first championship. To see him knock on that door so many and not see the door completely open-up for him, until today. Anyone could just see that he wanted that win, and he had a monster kick at the end with two laps to go and won by four second. He has been one of the best distance runners here at Illinois State and he deserves to enjoy that victory."
In her final attempt, McClain was sitting in fourth place, until she jumped a career personal-best mark of 5.99m (19-08.00) that sealed the deal for first place. Her mark is the third longest jump in school history. McClain is not done yet, as she advanced to the women's 400-meter final tomorrow afternoon.
"It was interesting that Ryan's and Amanda's wins were won in such a short period of time," said Bovee. "We had a senior go out and win his first championship title, and then just a few minutes later we had a freshman go out and win her first championships title. As she's heading in to her last jump at fourth place, Amanda was determined to steal that victory. She came out as the six seed and ended up winning the event, which is a huge boost for our women's team. I am just incredibly proud of Amanda for her effort today."
Tessa Holland set the tone for the Redbirds as she had a spectacular performance in the pentathlon. Holland was only 14 points away from breaking a 23-year-old school record with a score of 3,703 points. The school record was set by Jennette Whitcomb in 1993 with a score of 3,717 points. The pentathlon is made up of five events which includes the 60-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 800-meter run.
Holland started the day off with the 60-meter hurdles, where she finished first in her heat with a time of 9.20 and placed 10th overall with 869 points. She scored the most points in the high jump (916), where she cleared a height of 1.75m (5-08.75) and tied first with pentathlon champion, Breanne Borman. Holland moved to shot put where she posted a personal-best mark of 9.29m (30-05.75), and scored 483 points. In the long jump, she leaped a personal-best mark of 5.68m (18-07.75) and placed third (753 points). The pentathlon concluded with the 800-meter run, where Holland placed ninth with a time of 2:30.91.
"Tessa is a very talented young lady and had an incredibly day," Bovee said. "She has another opportunity tomorrow to compete in the open high jump and I believe she will be shooting for a top-3 finish, maybe even higher. She got the ball rolling today for our women."
Freshman James Brandenburg started the first day off competing in the heptathlon. The heptathlon is made up of seven events which includes the 60-meter dash, 60-meter hurdles, 1,000-meter run, long jump, shot put, high jump and pole vault.
The heptathlon started with the 60-meter dash, where Brandenburg matched his personal-best with a time of 7.23 and placed fourth overall. He went on placing second in the long jump with a mark of 6.74m (22-01.50). In shot put, Brandenburg threw a distance of 9.53m (31-03.25). He finished first in the high jump with a personal-best height of 1.99m (6-06.25).The heptathlon will resume tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. with the 60-meter hurdles.
The men's and women's distance medley relays both earned all-Valley honors as they both finished in third place. The women's DMR—Jackie Mink (1,200), DeAsia Garrett (400), Rayanne Wright (400) and Ariel Michalek (1,600)—posted a time of 11:53.11. The men's DMR included Ryan Bybee, Michael Jopes, David Curnock and JD LaFayette who posted a time of 10:03.76.
"We were All-Conference in both DMRs today," says Bovee. "Both men's and women's were tight races and we were in the hunt, and we didn't come out on the winning end this year. But it was two strong performance by both groups. Anytime you are all conference it is an accomplishment and it was a very good showing of the Redbirds in the relays."
On the first day of the MVC championship, ISU has 13 student-athlete that qualified for the final which is automatic scoring opportunity for the Redbirds. Each athlete that competes in the finals and finishes earns points for their team.
In the 60-meter hurdles, Katelyn Hill will advance to the finals in the 60-meter hurdle as she posted a preliminary time of 8.69. On the men's side, Jabrille Lewis was just one second shy of qualifying for the final 60-meter hurdles as he posted a huge career-high time of 8.19.
Ally Christiani (56.80), Amanda McClain (56.29), Ashleigh Wilson (56.65) and Sarah Mussallem (56.31) all advance to the final 400-meter dash.
Anderson Devonish posted strong efforts today as he will advance to the finals in both the 400-meter dash and the 200-meter dash.
Speaking of the 200, Emily Cowan and Kaitlyn Pearson advance to the finals as they posted preliminary times of 25.22 and 25.05, respectively.
Kaley Ummel and Jackie Mink both stamped their ticket to the finals in the 800-meter run. Ummel posted a preliminary time of 2:13.36, while Mink ran a time of 2:12.90.
Kimi Sanden and Kelly McShea will be looking for Valley honors in the women's mile run finals tomorrow after both advancing with preliminary times of 5:00.51 and 5:00.31, respectively.
On the men's side, JD LaFayette will be representing ISU in the men's 800-meter final. LaFayette ran a preliminary time of 1:52.71.
Aidan Askin will represent the Redbirds in the finals of the men's mile after posting a prelim time of 4:21.16.
"All in all, today was a fantastic day for our women. We qualified more women to the finals than we have in many years. We had a lot of women step up their game and we are in good position to score a lot of points tomorrow. The women are in the hunt to finish in the top-2 as a team," said Bovee.
As the first day of the Missouri Valley Conference Championship concludes, Illinois State men's and women's team are both sitting in fourth place. On the men's side, the Redbirds hold a total of 19 points behind Indiana State's 31. The women have 21 points closest behind Indiana State's 28 points.
Wichita State is in the lead for the women with 44 points, while Southern Illinois men sit at first with a total of 60 points. For the women, Northern Iowa is in second with 33 points, while Wichita State holds second for the men with 46.50 points.
The second day of the Missouri Valley Conference Championships will resume with the heptathlon at 9:30 a.m.
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