Feb. 3, 2011
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State track and field teams will head across town to Illinois Wesleyan to compete in the Keck Invitational Saturday at the Shirk Center. In addition, selected members of both the men's and women's teams will travel to South Bend, Ind., for the 24th-annual Meyo Invitational beginning Friday and running through Saturday at the Loftus Center.
"The Meyo Invitational is a test for our runners because Notre Dame's facilities are targeted more towards the running events, and we think it is necessary to expose our student-athletes to some of the top runners in the nation," said head track and field coach Elvis Forde. "We think our runners need a little more experience to showcase our abilities and prepare for the conference meet. We hope to come back with some top performances, because it is going to be tough competition and a tough test for our runners.
"We feel the meet at Illinois Wesleyan will be a good meet for some of our younger student-athletes to get better marks, and IWU's facilities are better for field events," said Forde. "The Illinois Wesleyan meet helps gives us a chance for our student-athletes compete, but still stay at home."
The first day of competition at the Meyo Invitational will start at 4 p.m. CT on Friday, Feb. 4, with the women's long jump followed by the men's long jump. The meet will resume on Saturday morning with action beginning at 9 a.m. CT with the 3,000-meter run. The Keck Invitational will start at 10 a.m.
Last weekend, the Redbirds competed at the Illinois Intercollegiate in Urbana, Ill. The women's team finished second with 131 points, while the men's team took third place with 79 points. Several Redbirds ended the meet with personal-best performances or top finishes.
In the women's field events, Amanda Albrecht won the high jump for the second-straight week with a personal-best jump of 5-10.47, while Rachelle Harbert took third in the pole vault after clearing a height of 11-9.73, which was also a personal-best mark. Brittany Smith and Tori Ziegler dominated the shot put and the weight throw. Smith won the shot put with a mark of 52-5.92 and bested the competition in the weight throw with a toss of 62-7.57. Ziegler finished second in both the shot put (45-6.45) and weight throw (56-9.88).
Samantha Bluske won the 3,000-meter run with a personal-best time of 10:05.97, while Aisha Praught had a strong performance in the mile and won the event with a time of 4:59.30
On the men's side, the distance runners continued to do well, as John Navarro (4:14.41) finished third in the mile, while Jon Roberts (4:21.90) took fifth place. Blake Brooks took fourth place in the 3,000-meter run with a personal-best time of 8:40.49.
Mike Ziegler cleared a personal-best height of 15-1.49 to finish seventh in the pole vault. Still in men's field events, Curt Jensen was second in the shot put with a personal-best throw of 56-11.07, while Chris McIntyre (51-7.29) finished fifth followed by Anthony Wirth (49-11.60) in sixth place with a personal-best mark. Akil Mills finished third in the weight throw with a heave of 61-2.25.
"From this weekend on, every weekend becomes critical in preparing for the Missouri Valley Conference Championships that are quickly approaching," said Forde.
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