March 25, 2010
NORMAL, Ill. -
After taking two weeks off to recuperate from a long indoor track and field season, the Illinois State men's and women's track teams will officially open the 2010 outdoor season at the SIU Gill Spring Classic, March 26-27, at Lew Hartzog Stadium in Carbondale, Ill. A select group of Redbirds will also be competing late Friday night at the Stanford Invitational in Stanford, Calif.
Action at the SIU Gill Spring Classic starts on Friday, with the women's and men's hammer throw events starting at 3 p.m. Those two events will be the only ones held on Friday, with competition resuming at 11 a.m. Saturday morning with the men's high jump and pole vault and the women's long jump and discuss.
The Redbird women's track team finished in fourth place at the 2010 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships at the UNI Dome and had nine student-athletes earn all-conference honors, including Sade Sealy who was the conference champion in the 400-meter dash. The men's team finished in fifth place overall and had four all-conference performers, with John Neisler earning All-MVC honors in the 800-meter and as a member of the distance medley relay team.
Head coach Elvis Forde believes his team left points on the track during the indoor championships, but is optimistic that those performances will be enhanced thanks to hard work.
"The first thing we always hope for in our opening outdoor meet is good weather and it looks like we will have that this weekend," Forde said. "After the layoff from the indoor season, we are ready to get back on the track and try to improve on the performances from the conference meet. We had some disappointments on both sides and have tried to rectify those problems and hope that the team can overcome them and learn from them during the outdoor season."
The change to the outdoor season also brings about new additions for both Redbird teams, especially in the javelin event which is not competed in during the indoor season. Last year's conference champion on the women's side, Leigh Petranoff, returns to defend her conference title and freshman Tim Glover, who posted a top-10 national junior javelin throw of 212'08" at nearby University High School last season, will look to make an immediate impact for the Redbirds. In addition, 2009 Missouri Valley Conference cross country champion Scott Krapf returns to the track after sitting out the indoor season.
"As we head into the outdoor season, there are some key additions to the team that should make us much better," Forde said. "On the women's side we add Leigh to the mix, who was dominant in the event last season and won the conference championship in the javelin as a freshman. On the men's side, Tim will be a newcomer to the team and we expect him to break the school record in the javelin in his first meet, he's that talented. We also add Scott to the distance events, who is fresh and coming off a conference championship during the cross country season and we expect big things out of him."
With new spring weather and a fresh start to a new season, Forde believes there is a lot to look forward to for the Redbirds.
"We are very excited to get going and have a lot to look forward to," Forde said. "SIU is a great place to start and is known for its fast times in the sprint events. Training gets really boring after a certain point in time, so we need something to get out on the track and get an early gauge on where our team stands."
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