May 14, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
At the 2006 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the Illinois State women's relay teams stole the show for the Redbirds as the 4x100 and 4x400-meter relay teams were crowned MVC champions. In the final standings, the women placed third, while the men were sixth.
Wichita State, favored to win the title, tallied 169 points, followed by Missouri State (137), Illinois State (112), Southern Illinois (80), UNI (67) and Indiana State (60). Indiana State won the men's title with 167 points, while Wichita State was second (104), Southern Illinois and UNI tied for third (98), Missouri State was fifth (90) and the `Birds were sixth (55).
Illinois State's women's 4x100-meter relay team of Anna Lovell, Cherise Devers, Devon Williams and Lian Lucas defended its title with a winning time of 45.29, which was a season-best for the squad. The `Birds dominated the relay as they beat the second-place finisher, Missouri State (46.33), by over a second. On the 4x400-meter relay, Lovell came from behind in the third position to pull the `Birds into the lead, winning the event in 3:44.10. Andrea Mosher, Devers and Brianna Officer were also a part of the championship relay team.
Williams didn't seem to think one conference championship in the 4x100-meter relay was enough and teamed up with Lucas to take the one and two spot in the 100-meter dash. Williams surpassed her fastest time of the season that she set yesterday (11.54) to turn in an 11.52, which ties Lucas' time from 2004 on the Redbird All-Time Best List. Kyndra Curtin also turned in a personal-best (11.96) yesterday that carried her into the finals, where she placed sixth in a time of 12.05 today.
Lucas (second, 23.90) and Williams (third, 23.94) then teamed up again in the 200-meters, while Devers took sixth in 24.55.
Lovell made a run for the title in the 400-meters, but fell short behind Missouri State's Tanya Cyrus (54.85). Lovell's time of 55.35 was a season-best for the all-conference performer. She also took fourth-place in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:03.76.
Betsy McDonald and Suzy Turner helped guide each other to fifth and sixth-place finishes respectively in the 1,500-meters. McDonald turned in a time of 4:41.14, while Turner was right behind her in 4:42.99. In yesterday's 3,000-meter steeplechase, Laura Kennedy took second-place and came back this afternoon to take fifth in the 5,000-meters (17:34.21).
After a grueling weekend for Hourd, she finished the triple jump (38-11.50) in eighth-place and came back to place fifth in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.62. However, Lauren Maul competed in the triple jump for the first time this season, and added a fourth-place finish on the weekend with a jump of 39-06.00.
In other field events, Taylor Carbaugh threw a distance of 43-11.25 in the shot put, good enough for eighth-place, while Kristin Brinkman placed sixth in the pole vault with a jump of 10-11.75.
DeAndre Tillman, Geoff Houtman, Maxwell Mkwezalmba and Bronco Meeks recorded one of the top performances for the men's team with a second-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay. The squad turned in a time of 3:14.65 to fall behind to UNI.
All-conference honors went to Jeremy Doherty in the 1,500-meters as he placed second in the event with a time of 3:52.17. Dan Tripp competed with Doherty turning in a time of 3:54.75 for sixth-place.
A tight race in the 800-meters prevented Meeks from defending his 800-meter title. He finished the race in 1:55.38 for fifth-place, while Geoff Houtman was seventh (1:52.59).
In the men's field events, Nick Chumbley (45-09.00), Mark Jackson (44-09.50) and Blake Gish (44-01.25) took eighth, ninth and 10th-places in the shot put. Alex Straughn continued his season-best efforts from yesterday as he hit another regional qualifying mark, this time in the triple jump. Straughn jumped 49-07.00 which catapulted him into fifth-place, while Jason Field was sixth in the pole vault (14-07.25).
For some of the Redbird track and field squad, the championships were the conclusion of the 2006 season, but 15 Illinois State athletes have qualified for the NCAA Mideast Regional in 15 different events and will make the trip to Knoxville, Tenn., to compete in the regional meet on May 26-27.
Sunday's results can be found at http://www.halfmiletiming.com/Datafiles/Spring2006/WSUMoValley06/MoValley06.htm.
