April 14, 2006
Results
NORMAL, Ill. -
Although they weren't competing at the same meet, Illinois State track and field athletes Brittney Hourd and Lian Lucas had the same thing in mind ... to qualify for the NCAA Mideast Regional.
At the Lee Calhoun Memorial Invitational in Macomb, Ill., multi-event competitors Brittney Hourd and Frannie Epps finished the heptathlon in first and fourth-places respectively. After the first four events on the first day of competition on Thursday, Hourd held the lead sweeping the 100-meter hurdles, the high jump, as well as the shot put and 200-meters. In the final three events, she took first in the long jump with 19-02.75, fourth in the javelin (91-00) and second in the 800-meters for a total of 5,032 points. Her point total was good enough to earn an NCAA regional qualifying mark. Epps completed the heptathlon with 3,619 points finishing with a fourth-place finish in the long jump, first-place in the javelin and fifth in the 800-meters.
Assistant coach Tim Thompson was pleased to see Hourd scored enough points to qualify.
"Brittney really put it all out there today," said Thompson. "She stepped up her game and will have two more chances this season to increase her point total this season before the regional meet."
Not only did Hourd regionally qualify for the NCAA Mideast Regional, but Lian Lucas, competing in the Sea Ray Relays in Knoxville, Tenn., also ran a regional qualifying time in the 100-meters in 11.68. Lucas finished the race in 14th place. In other sprinting events, Kyndra Curtin, Anna Lovell, Lucas and Brianna Officer teamed up in the 4x200-meter relay. The foursome placed 11th in 1:38.88.
Andrea Mosher, who has been injured for a majority of the outdoor season, competed for the first time last weekend at Eastern Illinois in the 400-meters. Mosher showed today she was making strides in the right direction turning in a 56.29 in the event. Associate head coach Chris Bailey felt Mosher's time showed that in a few weeks she will be in the ranks of contending for a conference championship.
On the men's side, Bronco Meeks established a new season-best in the 800-meters. Meeks ran a 1:50.92 on his way to a sixth-place finish. Jeremy Doherty also turned in a season-best time in the 1,500 with a time of 3:54.62. Brian Krantz had a big day in the field events with two season-best performances. Early in the day, Krantz placed seventh in the discus with 168-02 and came back in fifth-place in the shot put with a throw of 54-05.50. Mark Jackson also competed in the shot put, right behind Krantz in sixth-place.
"We saw some good things today," said Bailey. "Lian (Lucas) didn't get out the blocks very well, but finished the race very strong. We knew she was ready for a good run and that's what she did. Andrea (Mosher) is also coming back really well and I think she's really making improvements and is certainly going to make an impact at the championships and Brian (Krantz) seems to be getting back to his old form and improving week by week. Tomorrow we should turn is some good performances as we did today."
Tomorrow's events at Sea Ray will see Lucas in the 200-meters, the 4x100 and 4x400-meter relays and Laura Kennedy in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Illinois State will also compete in the men's hammer throw, while Derek Sargent is entered in the javelin.
At Western Illinois, the `Birds are prepared for a full day of competition with events beginning at 9 a.m.