CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Nine All-Conference performances boosted the Redbird track and field teams to fifth-place finishes for the men's and women's squads Sunday afternoon at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships at the UNI dome.
The Redbirds finished fifth with 72 points for the men and 77 points for the women. Indiana State won both the men and women's competitions with 141 and 122 points, respectively.
  
The highlight of the meet was an exciting anchor leg from Anderson Devonish who came from behind to beat out Indiana State and Wichita State in a neck-and-neck race for the first-place medal in the men's 4x400-meter relay. The foursome of Devonish, Antonio Farley, Javar Cruz and CJ Hamilton put together a 4x400-meter relay time of 3:16.65 to claim the MVC crown. Indiana State was a hair behind ISU, finishing with a time of 3:16.67.
Devonish, Farley and Hamilton also finished with All-Valley honors, going 1-3-5, respectively, in the open 400-meter dash. Devonish clocked a time of 48.14 to stand on top of the podium. Farley ran to a third-place finish with a 400-meter time of 49.39, and Hamilton clocked 49.75. With that finish, the trio picked up 20 points for the Redbird men in the 400-meter race.
"I am just incredibly proud of how both the men and women competed," director of track and field and cross country Jeff Bovee said. "It was capped off by a sensational anchor leg by Anderson Devonish who came in from a way back third in the anchor leg to winning the conference championship. He ran a fantastic 47.4 split. Andy just had a great weekend winning the open 400 and then coming back in the 4x400 to win."
Women's Track
Kelly McShea and Ariel Michalek captured big personal-best times in the women's 3K. McShea held the pace throughout the race and made her move to break away from the group with two laps to go, finishing first with a personal-best time of 9:34.90. Michalek made a move on her Bradley counterpart with 200 meters remaining, edging Bradley out in the end to finish second with a personal-best 3K of 9:37.39. This is the second All-Valley nod for both McShea and Michalek. McShea moved into the No. 3 spot on the ISU best list, while Michalek claims the No. 5 spot with that 3K time. Haley Goers also posted points for the Redbird women with a seventh-place finish in the 3K with a time of 9:53.03.
Ashley Kamin earned her first All-Valley honors of the weekend in the women's mile, recording a personal-best time of 4:56.32. UNI's Alex Wilson won the mile with a time of 4:48.35. With that time, Kamin checks into the No. 10 spot all-time in ISU history.
In the 60-meter dash, Jalynn Roberts-Lewis posted points for the Redbird women, finishing sixth overall with a time of 7.60.
Sarah Mussallem had a big personal-best in the women's 400-meter dash, finishing fourth-overall with a time of 55.91. Mussallem was also the opening leg of the women's 4x400-meter relay team that included Jackie Mink, DeAsia Garrett and Katelyn Hill. The foursome clocked a time of 3:50.95 to finish fourth.
Hill also notched points for the Redbirds in the 60-meter hurdles, finishing sixth overall with a time of 8.69.
Men's Track
Tyler Rippel ran to an All-Conference performance in the 800-meter race, clocking 1:54.28 to place third. Rippel narrowly missed second, as David Timlin of Indiana State edged him out for the runner-up place with a time of 1:54.18. JD LaFayette posted points for the men as well, running 1:55.52 to finish seventh.
Tyler Morse had the best conference performance of his career, finishing sixth in the 3,000-meter race with a time of 8:24.66. The junior scored points in the 5K with a fourth-place finish Saturday.
Paul Steeno finished eighth in the men's mile 4:19.03 to pick up a point for the Redbird squad.
Women's Field
Jianna Williams earned her second All-Conference accolade of the weekend, finishing third in the women's shot put. Williams came into the shot put ranked No. 4 in the conference, but exceeded it with a third-place finish and a personal-best mark of 16.39 meters (53-09.25). That mark moves Williams up to the No. 19 spot on the NCAA leaderboard.
Taylor Knauf finished 11th in the women's pole vault with a jump of 3.58 meters (11-09.00).
Men's Field
Kevin Fisch was fourth heading into the 1,000-meter portion of the heptathlon and ran a time of 2:53.35 to earn 731 points in the event, which boosted him to an All-Conference, third-place finish. Fisch finished the heptathlon with 5,111 points.
Jake DeJaegher finished sixth in the men's high jump with a best mark of 1.97 meters (6-05.50).
Evan Garretson heaved a best mark of 15.40 meters (50-06.25) to place ninth overall in the men's shot put.
"Day two wraps up with a great team effort," Bovee said. "We really got some contributions from a lot of different event areas. Jianna came back for her second All-Conference nod, and in the distance and sprints on the men's side, we scored a lot of points in the 400-meter and 800-meter races. That really turned the tide for the men's team. Our men's team came out here and competed with a tremendous amount of confidence, and I cannot be happier with the result. We have the pieces to keep building from here. On the women's side, we did not bring as many athletes here, and we still performed very well. We surpassed our projected score on both the men's and women's side, and I could not be more pleased."
The men's and women's track and field teams will return to the track March 28-29 for the beginning of outdoor season.
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