Juniors Stacia Beste and Alfie Gordillo both provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the womens 5,000 meters and mens weight throw, respectively, in first day action at the Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa Friday night.
Beste finished fourth in the 5,000 with a time of 16:51.62 to set a personal best and meet the provisional mark. While on the mens side Mark Reed and Lars Juhl finished in ninth and tenth, respectively, just behind Northern Iowas Oliver Bodor as all three combined to set the top three 5,000 meter times in the Valley this season.
The weather in Ames has been horrible, Illinois State head coach Jeff Pigg said. Some of the team traveled Thursday and the rest were coming over on Friday, but we didnt see any sense in traveling today. Weve got a good group that was able to make the trip to Ames, and we were fortunate enough to be able to have those that were unable to make the trip compete at Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday.
Freshman Jarod Tobler placed 12th in the long jump with a leap of 22 11 3/4 in an event which saw six athletes meet NCAA provisional marks.
Sophomore Aliya Hoyle turned in a Redbird season-best time of 25.90 in the 200 meter dash, while Kathrine Nielsen also set a team season-best with a jump of 18 6 in the long jump. Hillary Hyland also registered a season-best leap of 18 0 1/2 in the long jump and sophomore Bryan Smith clocked a 22.43 in the mens 200 meters to set a personal season-best time.
Not all the teams were able to make it to Ames, but it is still a big and competitive meet, Pigg said. Weve had some good performances and expect to see some more tomorrow. Everyone is continuing to improve as the season goes along and thats the most important thing.
The Illinois State track and field teams return to action on Saturday at the Iowa State Classic at Ames, Iowa beginning at 10 a.m. with the mens 3,000 meters.
