Already in its third week of the outdoor season, the Illinois State track and field team continues its run to the Missouri Valley Conference Championships as they head to Cape Girardeau, Mo., and the campus of Southeast Missouri State for the Gatorade Classic Friday and Saturday.
The Redbirds have already qualified three for the NCAA Mid-East Regional this season, including Brian Krantz (hammer), Rhett Hillard (shot put) and Laura Kennedy (3,000-meter steeplechase). The Mid-East Regional takes place from May 27-28 and head coach Elvis Forde would like to see more qualifiers, while also moving forward from a team standpoint.
The potential is certainly there to have more qualifiers, Forde said. It would be nice to get a few more regional qualifiers this weekend so we can start focusing on getting ready for the conference championships. Theres also a lot of pressure taken off when an athlete finally hits that qualifying mark.
Junior Andrea Mosher is on pace to be a regional qualifier in the 400-meter hurdles according to Forde. Mosher is the reigning MVC champion in that event, finishing with a time of 1:00.02. Two weeks later, Mosher bettered her time by almost two seconds, finishing ninth at the Mid-East Regional with a time of 58.39.
Right now, Andrea is running very well, Forde said. I see no reason why she cant qualify for the regional meet.
On the mens side, the throws squad has dominated of late, with two regional qualifiers already. Junior Dan Tripp is looking to regionally qualify in the 1,500 run and has the top time on the team this season (3:54.97).
In the 800 run, Bronco Meeks holds the top spot on the team with a time of 1:51.87, while Geoff Houtman is a close second (1:52.04).
If the Redbirds are going to qualify more athletes for the regional meet however, Forde says that the weather will have to cooperate this weekend, meaning low winds and cooler temperatures.
Were going five hours south, so hopefully it will be warmer and the weather will play into our favor, he said.
