Jan. 30, 2010
Indiana Relays Day 2 Results 
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -
Sophomore Tori Ziegler and freshman Brittany Smith both set new personal-best efforts in the women's shot put, as the Illinois State track and field teams finished strong on the second day of competition at the Indiana Relays at Gladstein Fieldhouse on the IU campus.
Ziegler set a new personal-best throw of 50'11.50" to finish in second place and provisionally qualify for the 2010 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships. Smith also topped her previous career-best effort with a heave of 47'08.00" to finish in fourth place to cap off a solid two days of competition for the Redbirds. In addition, Amanda Albrecht, who currently leads the Missouri Valley Conference in the high jump, finished in second place with a height of 5'07.00" just an inch short of her season-best mark.
Head coach Elvis Forde was impressed with Ziegler's outstanding day and looks for her to continue to improve as the season progresses.
"Tori was absolutely outstanding today," Forde said. "Not only did she set a new PR (personal record) in the shot put, but she beat her old mark by nearly three feet and provisionally qualified for the NCAA championships. She was very confident in the ring today and I just hope she can continue to build on that improvement each week."
In other action on the women's side, Meaka Brents ran her way into the finals of the 60-meter dash and finished in second place with a time of 7.64 seconds, adding to her second place finish in the distance medley relay and third place finish in the 200-meter dash on Friday night. Sade Sealy (56.48) and Tia Harvey (58.92) both ran strong races in the 400-meter dash final and finished in third and 12th places, respectively. The duo of Michelle Brunk (2:19.59) and Breanna Staples (2:21.39) ran strong races in the 800-meter to finish in sixth and ninth places.
On the men's side, Josh Pope advanced to the finals in the 60-meter hurdles finals and finished in fifth place with a time of 8.41 and Tyler Perna placed 12th in the 400 meter dash with a season-best time of 51.10. In the 800-meter invitational race, Steven Regan finished in fourth place with a time of 1:54.11 with teammates John Neisler (1:56.78) and Nick Geyer (1:57.48) right behind in ninth and tenth places, respectively.
The Redbirds also fared well in the relays on Saturday against tough competition. The team of Mat Smoody, Yosef Tewolde, Patrick Morgan and Geyer finished in fourth place in the 4x800 with at time of 7:48.23 and the quartet of Kayode Adegoke, Perna, Anthony Jacks and Neisler finished sixth in the 4x400 relay.
"I hope that everyone who competed this weekend gained some valuable experience, because this format is very similar to the Valley championship format," Forde said. "Our student-athletes need to know what it's like to compete on back-to-back days and be able to recover well. With so many newcomers to the team, it was good for them to get that experience and I look forward to seeing more improvement next weekend."
The Redbirds return to action Friday, Feb. 5, when the travel to South Bend, Ind., for the Meyo Invitational hosted by Notre Dame. The two-day meet will begin at 6 p.m. CT in the Loftus Sports Center.
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