Complete Notes 
April 2, 2009
NORMAL, Ill. -
With hopes that the weather in eastern Illinois will bring clear skies and warmer weather, the Illinois State men's and women's track and field teams head to the Eastern Illinois Big Blue Classic held at O'Brien Field in Charleston, Ill. The Redbirds begin competition at 10:30 a.m. Friday with the heptathlon, and finalize competition Saturday evening.
The non-scored event, hosted by Eastern Illinois, will see teams from Chicago State, Indiana State, Illinois' men's team, Judson College, Lincoln College, Olivet Nazarene, Rend Lake, UW-Milwaukee and Milikin.
"I am going to be the optimist that we need right now for two reasons," said head coach Elvis Forde. "One, is for nice weather and two with the hopes that we can have a majority of our kids' healthy and on the track practicing on any given day. Right now, we are struggling to handle the injuries that we have, but the kids that are practicing are looking good. We are going to hope that the weather stays nice, and we see some good performances again."
The ISU women's and men's teams are coming off second- and third-place finishes at the SIU Spring Classic, which saw five women and two men claim first-place finishes in their respective events.
Senior Samantha Springer highlights the performances for the Redbird women, after she hit a NCAA Regional-qualifying mark in the hammer throw with a distance of 178-9 in the first meet of the season. Springer also finished second in the discus, tossing a distance of 152-9, which is currently the top mark in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Junior Morgan Schaefer will get the opportunity to compete in the multi-event competition. Schaefer was an all-conference selection in the pentathlon at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships, garnering 3,521 points in February. This will be her first opportunity this year to compete in the heptathlon during the outdoor season.
On the men's side, the middle distance runners will look to continue their winning ways in the 800-meter run. Freshman Mat Smoody won the 800 title with a time of 1:52.18 at the SIU Spring Classic, while Steven Regan took second with a time of 1:52.18. The duo will attempt the 1,500-meter run this weekend, while John Neisler, Nick Geyer and Yosef Tewolde will all enter the 800. The five Redbird 800 runners currently hold the first through fifth positions on the Valley leaderboards through the first meet of the outdoor season.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics, tickets, TRC gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
