Track and Field Notes | March 27,2008 
March 27, 2008
NORMAL, Ill. - -
The Illinois State track and field team will open its outdoor season at the Southern Illinois/Gill Athletics Spring Classic held Friday and Saturday at Lew Hartzog Stadium in Carbondale, Ill. The first day of competition will feature a limited field, as the men's and women's hammer throw and long jump will take place at 2 p.m. Day two is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. with the field events; running events will get underway at 11 a.m.
The SIU/Gill Athletics Spring Classic is a team-scored meet. The Redbirds will be competing against Missouri Valley Conference foes Southern Illinois and Bradley as well as Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Illinois and NCAA Division II member SIU-Edwardsville.
Head track and field coach Elvis Forde is optimistic about the outdoor season and is looking forward to starting off the season with strong performances and nice weather.
"We are hoping for some warmer weather," said Forde. "As we travel down south, the weather should get warmer and that should help all of us as we get into the next eight to 10 weeks of the outdoor track and field season.
"I feel that if the women can avoid injury stay health, we have a lot of potential, and we could have an outstanding season."
Senior Devon Williams will lead the Redbird women sprinters. The Oswego, Ill., native enters the outdoor season after ending a strong indoor campaign at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, where she was named the MVC's Most Outstanding Women's Track Athlete for the second-consecutive year, while defending her 60- and 200-meter dash titles.
"We feel very strongly about our sprint group," said Forde. "Our best sprinter, Devon Williams, is healthy and running very well, and that is all I am going to ask for this season. Last year, we lost her to some extent because of a hamstring injury, but she is healthy now, and I feel that if she keeps her health, she can perform well in the 100 and 200 meters, as well as in our relays."
Leading the women's distance runners is senior Suzy Turner, who has been setting herself up for a breakout spring season by dropping time in almost every cross country and track and field meet she has ran in, thus far. Turner was named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference team for her third-place finishes in the 3,000-meter run (9:56.53) and distance medley relay (11:56.90) at the indoor conference championships and she also recorded a personal-best finish in the mile, crossing the finish line in 4:58.07 (5th place-finish).
In the field events, junior Samantha Springer and freshman Sonja Zoric will compete in the hammer throw, discus, and shot put. The freshmen high jumping trio of Amanda Albrecht, Becky Anderson and Caitlin Roberts, who all hold indoor personal-best heights of 5-06 feet, will look to continue their success.
On the men's side, the sprints squad has temporally been slowed as senior Jeremy Johnson mends his hamstring injury from the indoor season. Seniors Kelley Anderson, Diondre Williams, DeAndre Tillman and junior Luke Henrichs will be called on to step up and improve on their respective performances.
Sophomore Scott Krapf will pace with distance squad as the Danville, Ill., native earned all-conference recognition after placing second and third in the 3,000- and 5,000-meter runs, respectively.
"I see Matt Mroczynski (freshman), Mike Richardson (junior), Krapf, Nick Geyer (freshman), Brian Syring (junior), John Navarro (freshman) and Rob Barkulis (sophomore) putting in the effort (at practice) that makes you believe that they are going to have a fine outdoor season," said Forde. "Everyone from this group is looking quite healthy and we are ready to see what they can do."
In the men's field events, the Redbird throwers look to enter the spring reenergized as the squad started the indoor season strong, but lost focus as the season progressed. Seniors Anton Walczak and Bryan Chancellor and freshmen Danny Lindsey and Colin Fane will compete in the hammer throw. Walczak enters the spring with the squads best weight throw (191-07.00 feet) from last season.
Senior jumping standout Alex Straughn enters the season with a preseason national ranking of No. 26 in the high jump. Last year, Straughn cleared a height of 6-11 feet and placed fourth at the NCAA Regional to advance to the NCAA Championships where he took 17th at the national meet with a jump of 6-08.75 ft.
"We are expecting some good things from our jumps especially with Alex in the mix," said Forde. "We are looking forward to stronger performances from Drew Holl (freshman) and Chris Kirtz (freshman). Although they had good indoor seasons they should be much better in the sense that they have now been around the outdoor circuit and are more familiar with the surroundings."
