Stacia Beste completed the 10,000-meter-run in second-place, while Lisa Simon finished in sixth to give Illinois State the lead in the team competition at the 2000 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Thursday, at Cessna Stadium.
The Redbird women lead after two events with 25 points. Drake is second with 12 points, followed by Bradley (10), Wichita State (8), Southern Illinois (4) and Northern Iowa (3). On the mens side, Northern Iowa leads with 20 points, Illinois State second with 12, followed by Drake (10), Wichita State (7), Indiana State (7), Southern Illinois (4) and Southwest Missouri State (2).
Beste finished the 25 laps in 36 minutes, 29.23 seconds, five seconds behind Mary Ellen Hill of Bradley. Beste, who trailed Hill and Drakes Tracey Bearden in the conference best list heading into the meet, topped Bearden by four seconds in a race that started off with a slow pace and howling winds.
I was glad it turned out that way with the wind, said Beste, who will compete in the 5,000 on Saturday. It gave me a chance to keep up with the lead pack and I had more control of the race with 400 meters left.
In the mens 10,000, Illinois States Mark Reed and Lars Juhl tallied second and fourth-place finishes, respectively. With 3,000 meters left in the race, Reed and Juhl broke free from the pack. Head coach John Coughlans strategy paid off as the lead pack dwindled to four runners. With 200 meters left, Drakes Zac Schendel took a commanding lead to the finish, while Reed and Indiana States Geoff Wayton battled on the back stretch. Reed out-duelled Wayton and put together a strong finish in his first Valley outdoor conference meet after transferring from Eastern Michigan.
We ran as well as we could and I knew that Lars doesnt have a great kick, so with two-thirds of the race completed I wanted to put our guys in the best situation, Coughlan said. Mark runs with great determination and guts, that is why I knew that there was no way (Wayton) was going to catch him. He just has a tremendous amount of determination.
The meet continues on Friday with the mens hammer and the womens shot put at 10:00 a.m.
