Sophomore
Alia Hoyle and freshman Nicole Gates both turned in personal bests in the womens 60-meter dash as the Illinois State Track and Field squad had yet another strong outing in its final home meet of the year at the Redbird Open at Horton Fieldhouse today.
Hoyle placed fourth in the 60 meter dash with a time of 7.71 and Gates clocked an 8.42 on the day to both set personal bests. Gates also established a new career best with a 27.54 time in the 200 meters.
With many of the long distance runners resting, the sprints and field athletes all had chances to shine.
We did what was best for the individuals today, Redbird head coach
Jeff Pigg said. We gave many of the distance runners the weekend off to get some needed rest and some others were sick. So everybody got what they needed. We had some athletes like Alia Hoyle come out and set personal bests and thats great, but the important thing is that I think as a team we took a step forward.
The only Redbird competing in the mens mile, freshman Todd Quednau also set a personal best with a time of 4:32.89 for fifth place. Also running well on the mens side were fellow freshmen Corey Carmichael, Andy Joshua and Jarod Tobler. Carmichael clocked a season-best 53.18 in the 400 meters while Tobler and Joshua finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 200 meters with personal best times of 23.28 and 23.36.
All-American
Sam Serrano once again led the womens throws squad, hurling a meet-high 56 9 1/2 in the 20-lb. weight throw.
Kathrine Nielsen and Alexis Barath both set season-bests in the long jump with leaps of 17 8 1/4 and 16 7 3/4, respectively. In the long jump
Monique Haan (38 3 1/4) and
Dineisha Norman (36 3 1/2) both beat personal bests by nearly one foot each.
Back on the mens side, junior captain
Alfie Gordillo swept both the mens weight throw and shot put. the Redbirds finished first, second and fourth in the mens shot put, with sophomore
Joe Drevlow tossing a personal best 47 3 1/2 for fourth place. Drevlow also set a season high in the mens weight throw with a heave of 47 3 1/2.
Freshman Andrew Jury set a Redbird season-high height in the high jump when he cleared 6 8, while pole vaulters
Dustin Westbrook and
April Siler swept the mens and womens first place honors with Siler tying a season-best 11 5 3/4 and Westbrook vaulting a career best 15 00.
It was a team effort today, Pigg said. The team is hungry and real excited. Were going to stay focused and keep getting better as we close in on the conference championships.
Illinois State competes at the Cyclone Invitational next weekend at Ames, Iowa.
