Feb. 24, 2006
Results
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -
Scoring the first points of the meet for the Illinois State track and field teams, Brittney Hourd finished the pentathlon in second-place with 3,686 points, while Mark Jackson took second in the weight throw on the first day of competition at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships. However, it was the distance medley relay team of Betsy McDonald, Andrea Mosher, Kimberli Smudde and Suzy Turner that highlighted the meet with a first-place finish in the race.
The first-place women's distance medley relay squad clocked in at 11:51.68. The men's DMR team consisted of Dan Tripp, Maxwell Mkwezalamba, Bronco Meeks and Jeremy Doherty took sixth-place in 10:09.69.
Head coach Elvis Forde was excited about Hourd and Jackson's performance today.
"Brittney had a super day," said Forde. "Her performance in the pentathlon was great and then she came back and qualified in the hurdles and placed fifth in the long jump. Mark was great today too. His performance in the weight moved him up on the All-Time Best List and I'm excited to see him in the shot put tomorrow."
In the pentathlon, Hourd's best performance came in the 60-meter hurdles where she took first in the event in a season-best time of 8.50. Hourd (5-00.50) finished fourth in the high jump resulting in another season-best, while placing second in the shot put and came back to win the long jump and finished the pentathlon with a sixth-place finish in the 800-meters.
Hourd's 3,686 points on the day bested her old mark of 3,340 and was only 14 points shy of achieving an NCAA Indoor provisional qualifying mark, while moving her into second-place on the women's Redbird All-Time Best List. She also followed up her pentathlon performance with a qualifying time of 9.02 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles to advance to tomorrow's finals.
Jackson's second-place finish in the weight throw in 65-09.50 improved his mark by over a foot, moving him into third-place on the Redbird All-Time Best List. Tomorrow afternoon Jackson will contend for a top-place in the shot put.
In the 60-meter dash, Devon Williams (7.56) turned in the fastest time in the preliminary race securing a spot in the finals, while Lian Lucas also advanced to the finals with a time of 7.57. Lucas will also be the frontrunner in the 200-meters as she posted the fastest time in 24.24, setting a new indoor school record in the event. Anna Lovell will compete in the 200-meter finals as well.
A season-best time of 55.99 in the 400-meter dash sealed a spot for Andrea Mosher in the finals, while Anna Lovell (57.27) also advanced to the final round. The `Birds also placed two runners in the 800-meter finals in Kimberli Smudde (2:15.47) and Whitney Beals (2:17.67).
On the men's side, Jeremy Johnson will compete in the finals of the 60-meter and 200-meter dashes. He clocked in with the fourth fastest time in 6.88 in the 60 and sixth in the 200 in 21.98. Jorge Perez also qualified for the finals in the 60-meter hurdles with a seventh-place finish in 8.45. Mkwezalamba stole the final spot in the 400-meters turning in a time of 49.45 to advance to tomorrow's final.
Turning in the fastest time in the 800-meters, Bronco Meeks will vie for a conference championship.
Although, Alex Straughn (23-04.50), Thomas Orr (22-10.00) and Perez (21-06.00) all recorded season-bests in the long jump, Sam Watts (23-10.75) was the only Redbird to score any points in the event with a sixth-place finish.
After day one the women's team stands in fourth place with 20 points, while the men's team is in fifth with 13 points. Southern Illinois is leading both the men's and women's squads, while Wichita State's women's team is in second as well as Northern Iowa's men.
Forde is excited to get tomorrow underway and knows his team has to perform well to make it into one of those top three spots.
"Things are looking very optimistic for us on the women's side," said Forde. "We qualified a lot of athletes, but we're going to have to be in the top three of those events to move into second place. We're going to have to fun fast times and perform at a very high level. On the men's side we're going to be a little more challenged. Depending on how well we face those challenges will determine how we end up."
The conclusion of the Valley Championships will begin Saturday at noon with field events, followed by running events at 12:30 p.m.
