April 12, 2009
TEMPE, Ariz. -
Illinois State track and field senior Samantha Springer did what she set out to do, she posted a NCAA Regional performance in the discus, placing sixth with a toss of 158 feet, two inches at the 30th Sun Angel Classic at Joe Selleh Track in Sun Angel Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., Saturday.
Springer has already hit regional marks in the hammer throw and for the second-straight year will advance to the NCAA Regional Meet in the discus and hammer throws. In the men's discus Jason Robbs threw a season-best with a toss of 138-4 to finish in 18th place.
"Overall I am really pleased with the effort we had," said Illinois State assistant coach Jeff Chakouian. "Our goal in coming here (Arizona State) was to take our student-athletes and give them the opportunity to run against some of the nation's top athletes. We walked away with a lot of personal-bests, regional marks and kids that are close to a regional mark. When you compete you want to leave everything on the table and we really did that over the past two days."
Sophomore Kirsten Lang took 15 seconds off her time in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, to finish seventh with a time of 10:51.71. In the men's steeplechase, sophomore Jon Roberts was a second shy of getting the regional mark, posting a time of 9:07.97 to place ninth.
In the women's 800-meter run, sophomore Michelle Brunk clocked in with a season-best performance with a time of 2:13.48 (12th). In the men's half mile, freshmen Steven Regan (1:52.82) and Mat Smoody (1:53.73) placed 27th and 33rd, respectively.
Freshmen Alia McAfee and Leigh Petranoff rounded out ISU's performances from Arizona State. McAfee turned in a time of 57.30 in the 400-meter run and Petranoff placed ninth in the javelin throw (136-05).
The Redbirds wrap up their trip to Arizona with three NCAA Regional qualifiers. They will be in action again next weekend (April 17-18) at the Mt. SAC Relays, which will be held in Walnut, Calif.
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