April 18, 2008
WALNUT, Calif. -
Illinois State track and field junior Mike Richardson, sophomore Scott Krapf and freshman Matt Mroczynski kicked off competition Thursday evening with personal-best performances during the "Distance Carnival" at the Mt. SAC Relays hosted by Mt. San Antonio College held at Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, Calif.
Illinois State assistant track and field coach/distance Jeff Bovee was happy with the efforts his student-athletes demonstrated.
"Overall it was a great evening for us," said Bovee. "We came here and accomplished what we wanted to get done and I think we set the tone to finish off a great track season this year. We have another month until conference and we are going to be ready.
"The Mt. SAC Relays is a great environment and offers ideal running conditions for distance runners at night, the weather here is about 55 degrees. I would say that there are a couple of thousand spectators and runners from across the country and around the world."
Mroczynski and Richardson finished in sixth and seventh place in the first heat of the men's 5,000-meter run with personal-best times of 14:25.24 and 14:25.98, respectively.
Then in the final race of the evening Krapf proved that he is getting closer to a NCAA provisional mark this season in the 10,000-meter run. The Danville, Ill., native ran his best two mile time (9:20) in the 10K to
finish seventh, crossing the finish line in 29:48.09.
"Scott was in a group of about 50 people at the beginning of the race," said Bovee. "The pace of the race was really crisp and sharp. Scott was able to split off from the pack in mile three and run with the lead runners. From there the top runners really worked together until the last mile and a half. He closed the gap and was able to finish really strong."
Senior Suzy Turner despite fighting tonsillitis, placed 14th in her heat of the women's 5,000-meter as she crossed the finish line in 17:07.25.
"I was really proud of Suzy," said Bovee. "She ran her second-best time ever and we were not even sure if she was going to be able to run. She was passing people the whole second half of the race. She is definitely capable of more and her performance tonight is not at her training level, but I am proud of her effort. I think that she is going to be able to bounce back and will be able to run well at the Drake Relays next weekend."
Results are available at the Mt. SAC Relay's web site at http://www.mtsacrelays.com/archives/2008/results/uo/index.htm
The Redbirds will be back in action tomorrow at the Mt. SAC Relays and a will also be competing at the Vanderbilt Invitational in Nashville, Tenn. Competition from Vanderbilt set to begin at 4 p.m.
