April 3, 2010
Complete Results
CHARLESTON, Ill. -
The Illinois State track and field teams wrapped up competition at the EIU Big Blue Classic with seven more wins Saturday, after winning eight individual events on the first night of competition Friday at O'Brien Field in Charleston, Ill.
The teams had to deal with very windy conditions on the track, but ISU assistant coach Jeff Bovee said that is to be expected at this time of year in the Midwest.
"I do think the conditions affected things a bit today, but you kind of expect weather like this at this time of year and have to find a way to still compete well," Bovee said. "The last two days were very strong for us as a team and winning several events give us a little confidence as a team at this time of the year. It was great to see the same amount of success today as we had yesterday and I think it was a good weekend for both teams."
The field events started the day's actions and freshman thrower Brittany Smith picked up right where she left off Friday night. After winning the shot put event on Friday, Smith came back and posted a win in the discus with a personal-best throw of 165'02" and a win in the hammer throw with a distance of 173'06". Tori Ziegler also competed well in the throws events, with a second-place finish in the hammer throw (162'10") and a third-place finish in the discus (136'05").
In other action in the field, Amanda Albrecht earned a win in the high jump with a leap of 5'03.75", with teammate Caitlin Roberts right behind in a tie for second place with a height of 4'11.75". Albrecht also finished third in the triple jump with a distance of 35'04.25" to round out a successful day.
On the track, Alia McAfee and Michelle Brunk each earned victories in their respective events. McAfee's time of 57.01 seconds led her to a first-place finish in the 400-meter dash and Brunk's time of 4:42.48 in the 1,500-meter event gave her top honors. McAfee also ran to a fourth-place finish in the 200-meter dash (25.66 seconds) and Hanna Query placed second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.57 seconds.
On the men's side, Drew Holl made it a clean sweep for the Redbirds in the high jump with his winning height of 6'08.00". Tyler Knight then jumped to a third-place finish in the triple jump with a leap of 45'01.50" and the duo of Colin Fane (161'03") and Patrick Trofimuk (160'07") placed second and third, respectively, in the hammer throw for the Redbirds.
Rounding out the day's action on the track were Mat Smoody and Jon Roberts in the 1,500-meters and John Neisler in the 400-meter dash. Smoody earned his first win of the outdoor season with a time of 4:01.77 and Roberts was right behind in second place in 4:02.18 to take the top two spots for ISU. Neisler then went on to place second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.26 seconds to cap off a successful day.
"I think this weekend's meet was exactly what we needed as a team," Bovee said. "It gave our student-athletes some confidence with the wins and we will need that heading into some challenging meets in the upcoming weekends."
The Redbirds return to action next weekend at the Lee Calhoun Memorial Invitational hosted by Western Illinois. Action is set to begin Friday, April 9, and will conclude Saturday, April 10, at Hanson Field in Macomb, Ill.
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