Saturdays Redbird Open at Horton Field House will be the first competition for the Illinois State track and field team since May, and head coach Elvis Forde couldnt be more excited.
Joining the Redbirds for Saturdays events are Western Illinois, Northern Illinois, Vincennes, IUPU-FW, Lincoln, Illinois Wesleyan, Missouri Baptist and Florissant Valley. Throwing events begin at 9 a.m., while the running events get underway at 10 a.m.
After an entire semester of training, Forde sees this weekend as a chance to face competition before the team leaves for home at the end of the semester.
We hope to compete and not get anybody injured this weekend, Forde said. Its good to get some competition in after practicing during the fall. This is a good yardstick to see what were good at and what we need to improve upon.
The mens cross country squad is coming off a disappointing season after injuries sidelined juniors Dan Tripp and Jeremy Doherty. Forde is confident that the men will bounce back in the middle distance events. Tripp and Doherty finished first and second in the indoor mile at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships last season.
Ill be terribly upset if we dont move forward, Forde said. We didnt perform very well in cross country, but we have to move on. Im confident that the distance runners are ready to do that.
The womens cross country team faired better with a veteran line up of seniors Laura Kennedy and Diana Ainsley, as well as junior Betsy McDonald. All are expected to compete for all conference honors in the Valley in several middle distance events.
The women had a good season in cross country, but so did many of the other schools in the conference, Forde said. Nothing gets any easier and were going to have to be ready to compete come conference championships time.
Andrea Mosher returns for the women where she will continue running the hurdle events. Forde is also trying something new by placing her in the 800-meter run in hopes of making her better in the 400 hurdles where she was an NCAA qualifier during the outdoor season two years ago.
The challenge for her is going to be greater this year, but if there is anyone who is up to the challenge, its Andrea, Ford said.
Forde also has high expectations for several newcomers on both the mens and womens team, especially in the sprints where the coaching staff focused much of their attention on recruiting during the off season.
The new freshmen that we have in the program, Janine (Zylinski) in the throws, Devon (Williams) and Kyndra (Curtin) in the sprints, and Suzy Turner in the distance events, theyre all going to do very well for us, Forde said. For the guys, you look at Jorge Prez, Kelley Anderson and DeAndre Tillman in the sprints; those guys are going to be relied upon to do some special things for us. Theyve trained very well and were happy with what theyve done so far.
The womens sprinters also return veterans Lian Lucas and Lindsey Arnold, as well as hurdler Lauren Maul, who missed half of the indoor season and all of the outdoor season due to a knee injury. The men will again be strong in the throws where Brian Krantz won the MVC shot put title, while Rhett Hillard was second. Krantz and Mark Jackson finished second and third in the weight throw respectively.
