ALLENDALE, Mich. – The Illinois State men's and women's track and field teams are headed to one of the largest track and field events in the country Friday and Saturday, as Grand Valley State hosts the 2015 Big Meet inside the Kelly Family Sports Center.
The meet will begin with the men's 5,000-meter race at 11 a.m. on Friday, while the field events are slated for a 2 p.m. start time. Saturday's field events will begin at 9 a.m. with track following.
  
The Illinois State track and field team is coming off a season-best weekend, including four personal-best marks in the 400-meter sprint. Anderson Devonish led the male sprinters, finishing ninth in a field of 66 athletes, including former All-Americans Brycen Spratling and Patrick Feeney. Devonish also moved into the No. 3 spot on the Illinois State top-10 all-time best list. Antonio Farley was not far behind Devonish, recording a personal-best 400-meter time of 48.27 seconds. The duo currently holds the No. 1-2 spots in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Sarah Mussallem and Ally Christiani also made a statement in the sprints Saturday, as Mussallem knocked nearly a second off her personal record, running a 400-meter time of 56.31, while Christiani ran 57.20 in the 400-meter dash to tie her personal-best indoor time set at last year's Meyo Invitational. Mussallem moved onto the top-10 Illinois State leaderboard, checking in at the No. 9 spot in school history, while Christiani currently sits in the No. 10 spot. Christiani and Mussallem were also integral parts of the women's 4x400-meter relay team that earned a season-best time of 3:46.00.
The middle distance squad of Tyler Rippel, JD LaFayette, Ryan Bybee and Aidan Askin return to the track, having gotten off to a strong start to the 2014-15 campaign. Rippel led the Redbird middle distance crew with a personal-best time of 1:51.81 in the 800-meter race, while LaFayette finished just behind Rippel in the Meyo Invitational 800-meter with a time of 1:52.47.
Ashley Kamin led the women's 3K group, finishing with a personal-best time of 9:51.75 to currently sit in the No. 4 position on the Valley best list. Kamin will race in her signature mile event this weekend.
In the field events, the Redbirds will look to standout thrower Jianna Williams. Williams captured another personal-best mark at the Meyo Invitational, 20.28 meters, finishing first in her event. She also recorded a second-place mark of 15.59 meters in the shot put, finishing behind former All-American and current Nike Athlete, Felisha Johnson.
Chase Pavelonis will look to break his own pole vault record for the fourth time this season.Â
Teams from every level of collegiate competition will be on hand at the Kelly Center this weekend, and live results will be available for the meet on both days of competition.
Fans wanting to follow along with the Redbirds can do so on Twitter @ISU_Track_XC, or following the conclusion of each day's events on www.GoRedbirds.com
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