Jan. 31, 2008
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State men's and women's indoor track and field team heads to the Indiana Relays to compete on their first banked track inside the Harry Gladstein Fieldhouse in Bloomington, Ind. Competition is tentatively scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Friday and at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Illinois State head track and field coach Elvis Forde realizes that this meet marks the halfway point of the indoor season before his teams head to the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championships (March 1-2 in Cedar Falls, Iowa), so he is looking for strong performances from all the athletes.
"This is always a very exciting meet for us," said Forde. "I think it will be more so for the freshmen; since this will be the first time they compete on a banked track. This is the only banked track that we will compete on all year long. Running on the banks is much different than running on a flat oval track. If you can understand how to run on the banks quickly, you can benefit from the angles and slopes; but if you do not understand how to use the banks and the straightaways, it can be a horrible experience.
"Hopefully, we can get there and show the kids how to use the track to their benefit and how they can go up on a curve and then sling shot off of it onto the straightalways just like a racecar. If they can understand the technique, it will help them tremendously. It is going to be a very good meet, and it is going to be very competitive."
The sprinters are expected to be very aggressive in their heats. Seniors Devon Williams, Kyndra Curtin, Anna Lovell and Melissa Clarke are expected to lead the women's sprinters. Seniors Jeremy Johnson and DeAndre Tillman; junior Luke Henrichs; and freshman Dan Murphy will look to improve upon their season-best times.
"This is a place where we have the opportunity to have some excellent performances in the sprints," said Forde.
Many of the middle-distance runners will not be competing at the meet, as they will be resting for the teams' upcoming meets. The Redbirds will be looking for strong performances from freshman Matt Mroczynski as he will be competing in the mile for the Redbird men alongside Rob Barkulis and Luke Ryan. Freshman Kirsten Lang will look to improve upon her personal-best performance (5:15.67) that she achieved in the mile at the Carle/Health Alliance Classic (Jan. 26) for the Redbird women's middle-distance squad.
Competing for the Redbird men in the jumps is Missouri Valley Conference Field Athlete of the Week Alex Straughn, as well as freshman Chris Kirtz and Robert Kamentsev and sophomore Nick Ragusa.
After a trying performance last Saturday (Jan. 26) at the Carle/Health Alliance Classic, the men and women throwers look to make a comeback. Junior Samantha Springer and freshman Sonja Zoric will be competing for the Redbird women in the weight throw and the shot put. Seniors Anton Walczak and Bryan Chancellor, Nick Chumbley and freshman Collin Fane will be competing for the ISU men in the throws.
