April 2, 2010
Results
CHARLESTON, Ill. -
The Illinois State track and field teams got off to a great start Friday at the EIU Big Blue Classic, as the Redbird posted wins in eight events at O'Brien Field in Charleston, Ill.
Illinois State coach Jeff Bovee accompanied the team to EIU and was impressed with the squad's performance on the first day of finals competition.
"I think we had a great start today," Bovee said. "Any time you can go to a meet and post wins in eight different events, it gives you some confidence. We won the majority of the events held today and I was pleased with all of the efforts put forth by our student-athletes. The windy conditions really affected some of the events on the track, but I thought we overcame those challenges and gained some momentum heading into the events tomorrow."
Kendric Smith got the day started off right, as he defeated two other competitors in the men's decathlon with a final total of 5,822 points. Smith won the event thanks to wins in the 1,500-meters (4:56.98) and in the 110-meter hurdles (15.27). Smith also placed second in the 100-meter dash, the javelin throw and the long jump in the 10-event competition.
In other action on the men's side, Tim Glover remained undefeated in the outdoor season and took the top spot in the javelin with a mark of 191'04". Jim Link picked up a win in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 32:34.47 and John Navarro paced the field in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:39.40. Curtis Jensen (52'07.25") and Patrick Trofimuk (50'07.25") both posted personal-best efforts in the shot put to place second and fourth, overall, and Nick Ragusa posted a height of 15'01.50" in the pole vault to place third in the event.
On the women's side, Leigh Petranoff also stayed undefeated in the javelin throw after she posted a distance of 147'09" to take first place in the event. Aisha Praught continued her strong start to the outdoor season and posted a win in the 3,000-meter steeplechase to give the Redbirds a sweep in that event as well with a time of 11:17.84. Rounding out the winners on the day for ISU were Brittany Smith, who posted a new personal-best effort of 50'09.50" in the shot put to take first-place honors, and Rachelle Harbert who posted a height of 11'04.25" in the pole vault to secure a win.
The Redbird return to action Saturday at 10:30 a.m. with the women's discus and field events are set to begin at 11 a.m. with the preliminaries of the men's 100-meter hurdles.
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