May 8, 2012
Valley Release 
NORMAL, Ill. -
For her Illinois State record-breaking performance this past weekend in the 400-meter dash, junior Sade Sealy was named the Missouri Valley Conference Female Track Athlete of the Week by the league office Tuesday.
After taking it easy the past few weeks with a strain, Sealy entered the Billy Hayes Invitational to fine-tune herself before the State Farm MVC Outdoor Track & Field Championships this weekend. In the 400, she ran one-and-a-half seconds faster than anyone else in the field, posting a career-best and Redbird record time of 53.32. In the process, the two-time defending MVC champion in the 400 reclaimed the top spot in the Valley by four hundredths of a second. If that wasn't enough, Sealy also ran the anchor leg of the 4X100-meter relay, helping the team to a first-place finish with a season-best time of 46.39.
Sealy's improvement in her 400 time moved her up eight spots in the national rankings, helping the women's track & field team to No. 15 in the NCAA track & field power rankings. She enters this weekend with one conference championship under her belt this season, in the 400-meter indoors, and looks to add to her career total of five.
The 2011 Most Outstanding Track Athlete and the rest of the men's and women's track & field team heads to Wichita, Kan., this weekend for the 2012 State Farm MVC Outdoor Track & Field Championships May 11-13. Fans can follow the Redbirds online at the championships central page on GoRedbirds.com, which includes links for live results and the live video webstream, and also on Twitter at @ISURedbirds and @ISU_Track_XC.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics, tickets, TRC gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
