April 19, 2007
NORMAL, Ill. -
Fresh off recording season and personal bests at the Jim Duncan Invitational and Lee Calhoun Memorial last weekend, the Illinois State track team continues its spring slate when the Redbirds travel to Nashville, Tenn., for the Vanderbilt Track & Field Invitational on Friday and Saturday. The `Birds, who were led last week by sophomore Samantha Springer and junior Anna Lovell, look to post NCAA Regional qualifying scores at the Commodores' track complex.
Head coach Elvis Forde views this weekend's event as an opportunity to evaluate the team, believing the stiff competition will prepare the Redbirds for the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Championships on May 11-13.
"This is going to be one of our toughest weekends competing against some good teams," said Forde. "But it will also be a good weekend for those of our athletes that have a chance of traveling with the team to the conference championships to prove themselves. This weekend will help the coaching staff evaluate our athletes in order to decide who will make the trip to conference, as well as the Drake Relays next weekend."
Springer recorded her first regional qualifying mark of the season, hitting a distance of 160-06 feet in the discus throw to lead the Redbirds at the Lee Calhoun Memorial Sunday in Macomb, Ill. Springer's discus throw also gave her a first place finish, out-throwing the nearest competitor by more than 20 feet. The Tremont, Ill., native also finished first in the hammer throw, launching a throw of 162-06 ft. Lovell also had success at the Duncan Invite in Des Moines on Saturday, leading the way by clocking in at 11.99 seconds in the 100-meters and 24.33 in the 200-meters. Finishing in first place in both races, Lovell's time in the 200-meters also shattered her previous personal-best.
Other women's performers to watch this weekend will be juniors Melissa Clarke and Kyndra Curtin and sophomore Brianna Officer in the sprints, sophomores Kathleen Thompson and Natalie Scatena in the distance events, freshman Tiffany Harris in the hurdles and sophomore Kristin Brinkman in the pole vault.
The women's squad will be without some key performers as Junior Devon Williams (sprints), sophomore Kim Smudde (distance) and senior Lyn Cox (sprints) will be held out of this weekend's events in order to rest a variety of nagging injuries.
The men's sprinters will also look to build off the momentum gained from their performances at the Duncan Invitational, as the group recorded four season and personal-best times. Luke Heinrichs (11.14) recorded a season-best in the 100-meter dash, while Maxwell Mkwezalamba and Diondre Williams each posted personal-bests in the 200-meters. Mkwezalamba finished in fourth with a time of 21.87 and Williams placed 14th in a time of 22.28. Heinrichs also ran in the 200-meters, running a personal-best time of 22.38.
The throwers had success at the Calhoun Memorial, with all the participating members posting personal-bests in the hammer throw. Junior Anton Walczak led the way with a throw of 174-04 feet and finished in third place. Sophomore Blake Gish's throw of 164-11 ft. was good enough for fifth place, while junior Bryan Chancellor's personal-best throw of 161-08 ft. placed eighth.
This weekend will also allow some men's team members an opportunity to impress the coaches, with Brian Syring, Taylor Sebestik and Rob Barkulis running the distance events. However, Samuel Watts, Alex Straughn and DeAndre Tillman will not compete due to injuries.
"I think we will be looking at everybody this weekend," said Forde. "I feel that we will be giving everyone on the team a shot, because no one has solidified a spot on the bus for the conference championships. The bottom line is that if the athletes want to go to conference, they will need to run fast or jump hard, or at least show the effort that we are looking for in order to perform at a high level once we compete at the conference championships."
The meet begins on Friday at 4 p.m. with the women's long jump. The men's hammer throw kicks off Saturday's festivities at 10 a.m. The Redbirds were originally scheduled to compete at two events this weekend, but will no longer travel to the John McDonnell Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark.
