Latisha Johnson placed first in the weight throw and shot put, pacing the Illinois State women's track and field team and Joe Drevlow threw the weight a season-best 58'03.25 on the men's side at the EIU Friday Night Special hosted by Eastern Illinois, Friday, in Charleston, Ill.
With a throw of 5311 in the weight, Johnson, a junior from Jacksonville, Ill., bettered second-place finisher Venisha Williams of conference foe Southern Illinois, who threw 5211.50. In the shot put, Johnson captured first with a toss of 4510.00. Drevlow threw the weight over five feet further than Chris Cline of Southern Illinois and over a foot further than his season-best mark of 56-10. Other first place finishes include Rhett Hillard in the shot put with a mark of 5107.75. Robin Whalen also finished first for the Redbirds in the pole vault (1109.75).
Other highlights on the womens side include a fourth-place finish by Alia Hoyle in the 60-meter dash and third-place finish in the 200 meters. Mary Ahearn placed second in the 400-meter dash while Amy Dian was sixth in the 800.
Lindsay Carpenter and Elizabeth Callham paraded to a 2-3 finish in the 3,000 meters while Deneisha Norman was first in the triple jump.
For the men, Andrew Joshua placed sixth in the 200 meters and finished in the same place in the 400 meters. Greg Baker came in second in the 3,000 meters while Harry Lattimore placed second in the shot put and Mark Jackson was third in the weight throw.
The EIU Friday Night Special marked the end of the regular-season indoor meets for the Birds this year. The indoor season concludes with the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships being held next weekend, Feb. 28-March 1, at Horton Field House. Illinois State is the host of the event.
