May 13, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
The finals of the 2006 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Track and Field Outdoor Championships will see a tremendous amount of red and white running down the home stretch on the final day of competition as the Illinois State track and field team advanced several athletes to the finals, while also earning all-conference honors in final events that were contested today at Cessna Stadium on the campus of Wichita State.
Brittney Hourd was one of those athletes that earned all-conference honors with her second-place finish in the heptathlon. Yesterday, in the first four events, she tallied 3,079 points and remained in second-place throughout today's final three events with a second-place finish in the long jump (19-00.75), fifth-place in the javelin (94-07) and fourth-place in the 800-meters (2:27.42). She finished the seven-event competition with a season-high 5,052 points. Frannie Epps couldn't hold on to her eighth-place lead after Friday's performance and fell to 11th-place in the event earning 3,968 points.
Hourd (14.03) will also compete in tomorrow's 100-meter hurdle finals as she qualified in the prelims with the fourth fastest time. Hourd didn't stop there, though, as earned another second-place finish in the long jump (19-08.25), while Lauren Maul (19-01.25) was fifth.
Maul came back to compete in the high jump, immediately after the long jump competition, to take third-place in the event with a jump of 5-07.25.
All-conference performer Laura Kennedy had an exciting showing in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, where she placed second in 10:30.53.
The women's 100-meters will be a stacked competition for the Redbirds as three Illinois State athletes advanced to the finals. Devon Williams may have had one of the most impressive performances for the `Birds as she turned in the fastest time of 11.54, which places her second on the Redbird All-Time Best List behind teammate Lian Lucas (11.52, 2004). Lucas turned in the third-fastest time of 11.73, while Kyndra Curtin (11.96) ran a season-best for the sixth-fastest time.
The 200-meters will be packed with red and white as well with Lucas (24.23), Williams (24.16) and Cherise Devers in the finals.
Anna Lovell will be seen in the finals of the 400-meters and the 400-meter hurdles. Lovell recorded a season-best time of 55.60 for the second-fastest run in the 400 and turned in the fifth-fastest time in the hurdles. Pulling her along, teammate Andrea Mosher made her way into the first-place spot in the 400-meter hurdles, making her the top contender in the event for tomorrow.
Samantha Springer just missed scoring points for the `Birds by placing seventh in the discus with a throw of 138-00, while Taylor Carbaugh was 10th (125-03).
In the men's competition, a season-best time of 48.07 earned DeAndre Tillman a spot in the 400-meter finals, where he turned in the sixth fastest time in the event. Jeremy Johnson ran his way through the prelims qualifying in the 100 (10.54) and 200-meters (21.22) with a season-best times as well.
Bronco Meeks (1:53.38) and Geoff Houtman (1:53.68) will vie for two of the top places in the 800-meter run as the two turned in the second and eighth-fastest times respectively in the prelims this evening.
Improving his performance from yesterday, Brian Krantz took fourth-place in discus with a throw of 150-04. On Friday in the hammer throw he took sixth-place. Nick Chumbley added some spark to the men's throws squad with a top spot in the discus with a fifth-place finish and a throw of 149-08.
Freshmen Alex Straughn and Olutola Fakehinde were the only two Redbirds on the men's side to earn all-conference honors today with second and third-place finishes in the high jump. Straughn turned in a huge season-best clearing 6-10.75, which bested his previous mark by four inches and qualified him for the NCAA Mideast Regional. Fakehinde's (6-08.00) jump was consistent with what he's done all season.
After eight events scored Indiana State leads the men's competition with 61 points, followed by Wichita State (41), UNI (36), Southern Illinois (35), Illinois State (29), Drake (24) and Missouri State (22).
Missouri State leads the women's competition with 62 points, followed by Wichita State (58), Illinois State and Southern Illinois (34), UNI (26), Indiana State (23) and Drake (9).
Finals of the 2006 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships will begin at noon on Sunday with field events, followed by running events at 1 p.m.
Saturday's results and live results throughout the day on Sunday can be found at http://www.halfmiletiming.com/Datafiles/Spring2006/WSUMoValley06/MoValley06.htm.
