For the second week in a row Illinois State track and field head coach Elvis Forde was pleased with his teams performance. This time, the Redbirds fared well during competition at the Ohio State Invite, one week after a stellar performance in Madison, Wis.
Forde attributes much of the success to the hard work everyone puts in during the week.
The coaches and athletes work so hard in practice all week that it really makes the meets special, Forde said. Everyone is getting better and I really look forward to the next three weeks to see how much more this team progresses.
Both the men and the women had their share of success. On the womens side, Latisha Johnson continued her dominance in the throws, taking second in the shot put with a mark of 50-8. Betsy McDonald was the individual champion in the mile, clocking in with a time of 5:08.71, while Lindsey Arnold was first in the 400-meter dash with a time of 59.33. Teammate Cherise Devers was second behind Arnold, clocking in at 59.60. Diana Ainsley and Leah Smith took the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in the 1,000, with times of 2:59.10 and 3:07.01 respectively. Mary Risius won the high jump with a leap of 5-4 1/2.
Lian Lucas also had a decent showing for the Redbirds, taking second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.92, and third in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.87.
Lian has really begun to step up for us, Forde said. Were going to really need her help in the sprints for the rest of the season.
On the mens side, JaRod Tobler took the week off from the long jump and triple jump to focus on the sprinting events. The breather paid off, as the senior won the 200, clocking in at 22.37. Casey Gantt took third in both the long jump (21-11 1/2) and triple jump (47-5 3/4), while Gergely Bata was second in the high jump (6-6 3/4). In the pole vault, Tyler Gaumer again established a personal best with a height of 6-6 3/4. Jeremy Doherty won the 1,000 with a time of 2:26.98, while Miklos Konkoly won the 800 with a time of 1:54.18.
In the throwing events, Brian Krantz established personal bests in both the weight throw (59-10 1/2) and shot put (53-5 1/2), placing fourth in both. Mark Jackson also established a personal best in the weight (59-9) finishing sixth, while Rhett Hillard was third in the shot with a throw of 53-5 1/2.
Overall, Im happy with how things are going, Forde said. All the kids are starting to get into a rhythm and thats going to be very important come conference time.
The Redbird track and field team takes to the road again next Saturday, this time to Champaign and the University of Illinois, where they will compete in the Health Alliance Invitational.
