Jan. 14, 2006
Complete Results
NORMAL, Ill. -
In a dual meet against Indiana State today at Horton Field House the Illinois State men's track and field team took first place, while the Redbird women's squad was only a few points shy of a first place team finish.
Illinois State's men's squad recorded 80 team points compared to the Sycamores 67. However, the Redbird women (67) fell nine points behind Indiana State (76). Head track and field coach Elvis Forde recognized the difference in point totals in a dual meet compared to a larger-sized meet, but was happy with the way his team performed.
"I think the meet went well in terms of how our athletes performed," said Forde. "I am a little disappointed in that we lost to Indiana State on the women's side, but not having athletes in some events is what hurt us. We didn't have anyone competing in the triple jump so they were able to score eight points in that event where we scored zero. That's really all it takes in a dual meet to get over the hump. When we look at the results we'll probably see that we won nearly eighty percent of the competition, but that one event can make a huge difference. I'm still excited though because we performed well."
On the women's side, Forde was pleased with performance from Kimberli Smudde in the 800-meters and Devon Williams in the sprints. Both athletes placed first in their events as they did earlier in the season at the first home meet. Smudde ran the 800-meters in 2:16.40, while Williams won the 60-meter dash in 7.60 and the 200-meters in 25.19. Andrea Mosher and Brianna Officer went one and two in the 400-meters, while Betsy McDonald took second in the mile. Taylor Carbaugh also placed second in the shot put with a throw of 44-11.50.
"I feel very happy with where the women's team is right now from Kimberli Smudde in the middle distance to Devon Williams in the sprints," said Forde. "I think the part that really propelled us today was Devon. She was a very special runner in the 60-meter dash and the 200 and I look forward to seeing her run every weekend and becoming one of the top sprinters in the Valley. We also need Andrea to stay healthy this season and we're looking for Lian to raise her level of competition."
On the men's side, Forde was quite impressed with the performances by Jeremy Doherty in the mile and 3,000-meter run. Doherty took first place in both events with a time of 4:14.29 in the mile and 8:53.76 in the 3,000.
"I'm really happy for the men because Indiana State has really beaten up on us in the last two or three years," said Forde. But one of the athletes that helped us come out on top today was Jeremy Doherty. He's struggled the last year and half because of mono and I hope that his two performances today will give him a twinkle in his eyes and he'll keep improving week by week."
Other notable performances include Jeremy Johnson once again in the 60 and 200-meter dashes. As he did in the first indoor meet of the season, Johnson took first place in both events today. Geoff Houtman won the 800-meter run in 1:57.00, while Samuel Watts and Nnameka Nnamani took first in the long jump and triple jump respectively. Mark Jackson recorded two second place finishes in the shot put (56-08.75) and weight throw (61-08.25).
The Redbird track and field squad will take to the road for the duration of the indoor season as they travel to Champaign next Saturday, January 21to compete in the Illinois Invitational.
