Results 
March 1, 2008
CEDAR FALLS, IOWA -
Illinois State sophomore Scott Krapf earned the first Missouri Valley All-Conference accolade, claiming third place in the 5,000-meter run to pace the Redbird track and field team on the first day of competition at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships inside the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa Friday.
Krapf clocked a 14 minute, 51.66 second finish in the championship race, but was unable to clench the title as Southern Illinois' Jeff Schirmer (14:46.22) and Andrew Haigh (14:49.04) of Drake took first and second, respectively. ISU freshman Matt Mroczynski finished a close fourth with a time of 14:58.89.
Head Illinois State track and field coach Elvis Forde was pleased with Krapf and Mroczynksi's performance and hopes that tomorrow will bring stronger performances.
"Scott and Matt really ran well today," said Forde. "We were really hoping that Scott could come away with a title in the 5,000, but he gave us a strong performance.
"We just need to remain positive as we head into tomorrow. We had some strong performances in qualifying events. We really need to score some points tomorrow and finish the championships."
The Valley's top sprinter in both the 60- and 200-meter dashes senior Devon Williams advanced to the finals in both events, clocking in with times of 7.60 and 24.62. Also advancing in the in the 60 will be freshman Meaka Brents (7.86). Joining Williams in the 200 are seniors Anna Lovell and Kyndra Curtin, they advanced to the finals after clocking finishes of 25.27 and 25.48, respectively. Lovell will also advance in the 400 (57.02 sec.) along with teammate Brianna Officer (57.36 sec.). Sophomore Megan Thompson advanced in the 60-meter hurdles (8.80 sec.).
Scoring the first points of the day for the Redbirds, senior Frannie Epps took fourth in the in the women's pentathlon with a personal-best score of 3,531 points, a tally that surpasses her current school record and keeps her at No. 3 in the school record book. In the first event of the pentathlon, Epps took third in the 60-meter hurdles clocking in with a time of 8.95 seconds. She then achieved two personal-best performances in the high jump and shot put clearing a height of 5-00.25 feet in the high jump (8th place) and throwing a distance of 39-03 in the shot put. Epps rounded out the multi-events with a leap of 16-09.25 in the long jump (7th place) and a seventh-place finish in the 800-meter run (2:28.70).
In the women's field events, junior Samantha Springer threw a personal-best 56-04 feet in the weight throw for a sixth-place finish.
In the men's field events, senior Bryan Chancellor placed eighth in the weight throw, launching a distance of 57-02.75. Freshman Chris Kirtz tied for eighth in the long jump with a distance of 22-08.00.
In the men's 400-meter dash preliminaries, senior DeAndre Tillman advanced to the finals with a time of 49.27.
In the last event of the evening the Illinois State women's distance medley relay squad of Michelle Brunk, Officer, Jenny Kraakevik and Suzy Turner took third place clocking a 11:56.90 finish.
After day one, the ISU women's team is in 6th place with 14 points, while the men are in 6th with 19.5 points.
The men's heptathlon will begin the final day of competition starting at 10:30 a.m. Field events will begin with the women's triple jump at 1:00 p.m., followed by track events at 1:30 p.m.
