March 3, 2012
Complete Results
NORMAL, Ill. -
Six members of the Illinois State men's and women's track & field teams competed in last chance meets Friday and Saturday, in hopes to qualify for the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships next weekend.
In the Wisconsin NCAA Qualifying meet on Friday, Redbirds Tori Ziegler, Curt Jensen and Akil Mills competed in hopes to improve their season marks. Ziegler took part in both the shot put and weight throw competitions, throwing marks of 48-06.75 and 60-07.75, respectively. Jensen also competed in the shot put, throwing a mark of 59-07.00, the second-best of his career and second all-time in ISU history. Mills followed up with a career-mark of 69-04.00 in the weight throw. This is the second-best mark all-time in the Redbird record books and 16th best in the nation. He improved his previous career-best by almost two feet.
Saturday proved to be another solid day for ISU, as three members of the team competed at the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame. Sade Sealy started the day off for the Redbirds in the 400-meter dash, crossing the line with a career-best and school record time of 53.62 for second place. She now holds all three top times in Illinois State history and currently ranks 22nd in the nation. Her time was seven-tenths of a second faster than her previous best set just one week ago at the 2012 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championships, where she was crowned the MVC Champion.
Mat Smoody set a career-mark at Notre Dame in the 800-meter run. Smoody ran a 1:50.46 in the event, the fourth-fastest time in Redbird history. He shaved a half of a second off his previous personal-best time in the process. Rounding out the day for those athlets competing this weekend was Aisha Praught. Last week, Praught won the MVC title in the mile and finished second in both the 3,000- and 5,000-meter runs. She continued her hot streak this weekend, winning the mile with a time of 4:37.77, an all-time record at ISU and personal-best for herself. This time ranks her 13th in the nation as she now holds all the top times in Illinois State history.
With the weekend coming to a close, the only Redbird who is guaranteed a trip to the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships is thrower Brittany Smith, who automatically qualified last weekend at the conference championships in both the shot put and weight throw. Those on the cusp of qualification will find out Monday once teams are required to declare student-athletes for their respective events.
As it stands, Praught ranks 13th in the mile, Mills ranks 16th in the weight throw and Sealy is 22nd in the 400-meter dash. For up to date information on who qualifies, follow Illinois State track & field on Twitter @ISU_Track_XC or visit GoRedbirds.com.
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