Feb. 13, 2009
Results
AMES, Iowa. -
Illinois State's Mat Smoody, Dan Murphy, Nick Geyer and Steve Regan combined efforts in the men's distance medley relay led the team to a fourth-place finish and a season-best time of 9 minutes, 52.63 seconds to highlight the ISU track and field teams efforts during day one of the Iowa State Classic held in Ames, Iowa inside the Lied Recreation Center Friday evening.
"The DMR (distance medley relay) that ran tonight is not our final squad, but I think that they performed well, said head coach Elvis Forde. "Mat Smoody gave us a good lead-off leg in the 1,200 (meter run) his split was 3:03, then Dan Murphy took over for the 400 and his split was about 49.7. Nick Geyer also had a strong run in the 800 portion; his split was about 1:50 before handing off to Regan who ran a strong anchor in about 4:08. This is a young (DMR) team with two freshmen and two sophomores, we just hope they continue to improve and are ready by conference."
The women's distance medley made their first appearance of the season. Michelle Brunk, Brianna Officer, Kim Smudde and Aisha Praught's combined efforts lead the relay team to a fifth-place finish with a time of 11:45.93.
On the track, sophomore Olivia Myers placed fourth in the non-seeded 5,000-meter race clocking in with a personal-best time of 17:20.79. Teammate Sarah Glowacki finished just after Myers in seventh place with a personal-best time of 17:35.38.
In the short sprints, sophomore Tia Harvey clocked in with a personal-best performance in the 200-meter dash. Harvey finished in 29th place among 130 competitors with a time of 25:20.
In the men's 5,000-meter non-seeded race junior Brian Syring (15:21.17) and Rich Eber (15:48.13) each achieve personal-best performances placing 13th and 22nd, respectively.
Junior Jason Robbs highlighted the efforts in the field launching the weight throw 58 feet, 8.75 inches. Robbs improve on his previous mark by eight inches, to finish 12th in the event.
"Jason is starting to find his form and I think that he has some big throws still to come," said Forde. "We will have to see what happens at conference (State Farm Missouri Valley Indoor Track and Field Championships, Feb. 28-March 1)."
The Redbirds will be back in action at the Iowa State Classic tomorrow, the women's mile is slated to begin competition at 9:30 a.m., field events will get underway with the women's shot put at 10 a.m. Live results are available by visiting GoRedbirds.com
