Three Illinois State personal bests were set in the womens throws competition as Ashley Minner threw the shot put for 46-10 3/4 feet, good for first place, Taylor Carbaugh was second with a 43-21/4 mark and Latisha Johnson tossed the weight 55-5 feet for first place all at the Redbird Open hosted by Illinois State in Horton Field House Friday. It was just a few of the high points in the meet as Illinois State captured 13 first-place finishes and both the mens and womens 4x400 relay teams finished first.
In the sprints, Lauren Maul, Andrea Mosher and Angie Drew paraded to a 1-2-3 place finish in the 60-meter hurdles while Cherise Devers captured first in the 60-meter dash (7.75) with a career-best time and 200 meter dash (25.57). On the mens side, LaShawn Bullock was second in the 60 meters (6.97) while Clarence Glenn was second in the hurdles (8.38).
In the distances, Jen Klostermann and Andrea Black crossed the line first and second in the womens 800 while on the mens side Gabe Cruz and Bronco Meeks pushed for a second-third finish. Jeremy Doherty ran the 3,000 meters in 8:37.78, good for second, while Kelli Schulte was second in the mile (4:57.55).
Lauren Maul continues to make strides, following up a first-place finish in the long jump last weekend with a repeat performance Friday. She leaped 19-1 1/4 feet while Tori Gaumer was second in the high jump for the women (5-3). Gergely Bata won the mens high jump (6-8) and Chivas Hemphill was first in the triple jump. Melanie Zimmerman won the womens triple jump with a mark of 38-8 3/4.
The team is coming along, head coach Elvis Forde said after the meet.The field events kids are starting to round up. Ashley (Minner) had her best throw today, a personal best. Every weekend the kids continue to get better and every weekend that makes us as coaches continue to get better because of the work we ask them to do is starting to pay off.
Cherise (Devers) had her best race of the year, Forde continued. Melanie (Zimmerman) is back and so we are starting to come through. If you look at the total picture of the team, it is exactly where we want it to be. The athletes range of performance continues to improve.
The men are doing very well as well. So it is not over, we have a whole month to go. The key here is to stay healthy and let the kids keep doing the work we ask of them. I am sure we will be happy with the results.
The Redbirds return to action Feb. 14-15 at the Iowa State Qualifier in Ames, Iowa.
