BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Four Illinois State runners recorded personal-best times in the mile, racing sub-4:10 marks to each move into the top-10 Illinois State indoor mile best list Friday afternoon at Gladstein Fieldhouse at the Indiana Relays.
Tyler Morse led the Redbird men, finishing sixth overall in his heat with a personal-best time of 4:07.23. Aidan Askin and JD LaFayette were right behind Morse, clocking times of 4:09.04 and 4:09.54 to finish eighth and ninth in the heat, respectively. Morse currently holds the No. 6 slot on the Illinois State top-10 best list, while Askin sits at No. 8 and LaFayette checks in at No. 10.
Ryan Rutherford ran unattached, finishing with the 10th-best overall time with a personal-best mile of 4:06.65.
"Certainly the highlight of the day was the men's mile," director of track and field and cross country Jeff Bovee said. "We had four guys under 4:10 and had three race to the top-10 list. All of the guys ran all-time bests and improved by a lot. Morse ran about a seven second PR. Aidan Askin was five seconds better, and JD LaFayette beat his high school personal-best by about nine seconds. Those guys just ran incredibly well, and I am really excited about the season for all of them."
Tomorrow's field events are slated for 10:30 a.m. start time, and races are set to begin at 10:50 a.m.
Men's Track
Tyler Rippel finished with a 600-meter time of 1:20.18 to also crack the ISU top-10 best list, coming in the 10th spot behind Andre Noel (1996) who holds a 600-meter time of 1:20.13. Rippel raced in the invitational portion of the event, finishing fifth overall in his heat.
Jalen Lewis advanced to the semi-finals in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.97.
Women's track
Kelly McShea raced to a second-place finish in the women's 3,000-meter invitational, clocking a time of 9:59.06 and finished first among collegiate runners. McShea stood with the pack throughout the race, but made a move in the final 200 meters to pull away from the group and finish second. In her debut meet of the 2014-15 season, Ariel Michalek cruised to victory in her 3,000-meter open heat with a time of 10:05.05. Loyola's Hannah Magnuson finished second behind Michalek with a time of 10:06.72.
Katelyn Hill recorded her third victory in a row, finishing first in her 60-meter hurdles heat with a time of 8.93 to qualify for tomorrow's semi-final round.
"Katelyn continues to put together a nice string of hurdle performances, build confidence and get some great experience," Bovee said. "The women's 3K also went really well. Ariel Michalek and Kelly McShea, in their debut races of the season, ran very well. Michalek looked phenomenal the last lap and a half and cruised to a victory from that point. She is going to improve a lot in that event and become one of the top runners in the Valley. Kelly was similar in the invitational section. First-place ran away with it from the start, but she completely dominated the rest of the field for second over the last lap."
The women's Distance Medley Relay team of Sydney Billingsley, Rayanne Wright, Kaley Ummel and Haley Goers clocked a time of 12:07.03 to finish fourth overall. Billingsley also ran to a personal-best mile time of 5:02.42, finishing just behind teammate Ashley Kamin who clocked a mile time of 5:02.42.
Jalynn Roberts-Lewis will represent the Redbirds in the 60-meter finals, recording a preliminary time of 7.70.
Men's Field
Freshman Evan Garretson was the lone Redbird male in the field events Friday evening. However, he did not advance to the finals in the shot put, fouling on all three attempts in the ring.
Women's Field
In the shot put, sophomore Morgan Keller advanced to the final round, but her best mark came on her first throw, tossing 13.56 meters (44-05) to finish ninth overall. Keller also recorded a mark of 14.53m (47-08) in the weight throw.
Fans wishing to follow the Redbirds at the Indiana Relays can do so on Twitter @ISU_Track_XC, or following the conclusion of the meet on www.GoRedbirds.com.
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