Jan. 24, 2009
Results
NORMAL, Ill. -
Illinois State freshman Steve Regan set a blistering pace in the men's 800-meter run to win his third-straight race and remain undefeated in the event at the Redbird Invitational held in Horton Field House Saturday afternoon. The Monticello, Ill., native crossed the finish line with a personal-best time of one minute, 53.54 seconds.
Illinois State head coach Elvis Forde was impressed with Regan's performance and feels his improvement from when he first joined the team to his current position proves his talent and athletic ability.
"Steve Regan was a walk on and has already made a tremendous mark on our program," said Forde. He has a good work ethic and a love for running and I think that there is something special about him. I think that he is going to do quite well for us this year and I am excited for him."
The Redbird men's and women's track and field teams faced Illinois-Chicago, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and Southeast Missouri in an un-scored meet. Illinois State came away with a combined 12 first-place finishes, 13 runner-ups and 11 third-place finishes with over a dozen Redbirds setting new personal-best marks in their respective events.
"I think that the picture of progress from our second week of practice has been tremendous," said Forde. "Maybe the confines of home make this meet special. Hopefully they can build on the confidence they got this weekend and it will lead to better performances to come. I can only hope that with all the personal and seasonal bests that it will continue from here for the rest of the year."
Highlighting those performances on the women's side was freshman Tori Ziegler who set a personal-best in the shot put by two-feet launching a distance of 48-00.50. The Fox Lake, Ill., native won the event throwing over five feet further than the second-place finisher from Southeast Missouri.
"Tori is a freshman and her toss today is going to put her at the top of the league standings (Missouri Valley Conference performance list), said Forde. "I think that she is raising the bar for herself and she has the potential in her to throw at least 50 feet."
The women's milers claimed the first through sixth positions, with freshman Aisha Praught leading the charge winning the with a personal-best time of 5:07.54. Sophomore Kirsten Lang cruised to a second-place finish with a personal-best 5:08.83. Praught took top-honors again in her second race running a personal-best of 10:22.52 in the 3,000-meter run.
On the men's side, senior Mike Richardson set a personal-best in the mile crossing the finish line with a time of 4:18.49 for a first-place finish. Richardson then entered the 3,000 to pace junior Scott Krapf in the first mile before stepping out of the race. Krapf went on to win the 3,000 in his first meet of the season with a personal-best time of 8:21.11.
"Scott has been training well and to have a PR running by himself is huge," said Forde. "I think that he is going to at least get six to eight seconds faster still."
The Illinois State men's and women's track and field teams will race next weekend at the Wisconsin Elite Invitational held in Madison, Wis., Jan. 31.
