April 17, 2012
ST. LOUIS -
Illinois State junior throwers Tim Glover and Brittany Smith were named the Missouri Valley Conference Field Athletes of the Week by the league office Tuesday, for their performances this past weekend at the Sea Ray Relays. Both Glover and Smith earned Tony Wilson Awards for the most outstanding male and female field athletes at the meet.
Each year at the Sea Ray Relays, four Tony Wilson Awards are given to the best male and female track & field athletes. The award is named in honor of Wilson, who was the SEC high jump champion in 1971 while competing for Tennessee. Wilson competed for the Vols from 1969 until he died from a cerebral hemorrhage on March 12, 1973.
Glover earned his award and second Valley athlete of the week honor by winning the javelin competition with an unprecedented throw of 266-09, setting a new Illinois State, Missouri Valley and Sea Ray Relays record in the process. His mark of 266-09 (81.30m) was three feet, three inches further than his NCAA Division I National Championship throw of 263-06 last June. In addition, that mark was also 51 feet further than anyone else competing in the event that day. As a result, Glover was the first Redbird ever to receive the Tony Wilson Award.
His mark of 266-09 now ranks him in the top-ten performers of all-time in NCAA Division I (No. 9) and first in the nation this season by 10 feet three inches. His mark was also just 70 centimeters off the Olympic A standard, which would qualify him to represent the United States in the 2012 Olympics in London, if he was to finish in the top-three at the USA Outdoor Championships in July.
Smith earned her honors in the shot put, becoming just the second Redbird to win the Tony Wilson Award, shortly after Glover was the first. En route to her award, Smith set a new Illinois State and career-mark of 58-09.50, winning the event and topping Valley foe Jeneva McCall of Southern Illinois by six inches for the No. 1 ranking in NCAA Division I and the MVC. Prior to wining the shot put competition, Smith took second in the hammer throw with a mark of 197-08, before taking second in the discus invitational (180-11) where she was just two inches off of breaking the Illinois State record of 181-00. Just three weeks into the outdoor season, Smith has racked up two-first-place and six second-place finishes, and holds a top-ten ranking in the nation in all three of her disciplines (SP-1st, HT-6th and DT-7th).
Glover, Smith and the rest of the Redbirds return to action this weekend, as the women's distance crew travels to Walnut, Calif., to compete in the Mt. SAC Relays, while the rest head to Louisville, Ky., Friday for a quad meet, before shipping up to Vanderbilt on Saturday.
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