March 31, 2011
NORMAL, Ill. -
After inclement weather cancelled the season opener at the SIU Spring Classic last weekend (March 26), the Illinois State men's and women's track and field teams will travel to Eastern Illinois to compete in the Big Blue Classic at O'Brien Field.
The meet begins Thursday with the Neil Moore Multi's, which will conclude on Friday afternoon. Action will resume at 2 p.m. Friday with the women's hammer throw, while running events begin at 6 p.m. with the 400-meter hurdles. The meet will conclude Saturday, with field events beginning at 10 a.m. and running events starting at 11:30 a.m.
Illinois State will compete against 12 other schools, including Missouri Valley Conference rivals Bradley and Indiana State, along with Chicago State, Eastern Illinois, Marion, McKendree, Millikin, Rockford, SIU Edwardsville, Western Illinois, Western Michigan and UW Milwaukee.
The Redbird women's track team finished in third place at the 2011 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 (400-meter dash) and Amanda Albrecht (high jump), who were conference champions in their respective events. The men's team finished in fifth place overall and had eight all-conference performers, with Mat Smoody running to a conference championship in the 800-meter run.
Brittany Smith will look to continue her decorated sophomore campaign, as the Oak Park, Ill., native earned All-America honors and set another school record in the shot put at the 2011 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in College Station, Texas (March 12). Smith finished third in the event with a mark of 56-04.75 after entering the event ranked 17th in the field of 21. For her national performance, Smith was named the Prairie Farms/Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Week on March 16.
The transition to the outdoor season brings new Redbird faces to the men's and women's teams. The biggest difference comes in the javelin throw, which is only competed in during the outdoor season. Leigh Petranoff, who has won two-consecutive conference titles in the javelin, and Tim Glover will look to defend their conference titles during the 2011 season. The duo each set a new school records at the 2010 MVC Outdoor Championships. Petranoff recorded a school record throw of 162-00, while Glover broke the record with a heave of 233-11. Glover's success did not end at the Valley Championships, as he qualified to compete at the NCAA Outdoor Championships where he finished 12th in the javelin.
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