LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Illinois State men's and women's track and field teams wrapped up its first day of competition for the outdoor season at the Lenny Lyles/Clark Wood meet Saturday afternoon at the University of Louisville.
Jianna Williams continued her successful senior slate, as the standout thrower finished first in the shot put, dominating the competition with a best mark of 16.14 meters. Central Michigan's Devene Brown was second with a best mark of 14.73 meters. ISU's Morgan Keller also earned a top-3 spot in the shot put with a best mark of 13.82 meters. Williams earned another top-3 mark in the hammer throw, finishing with a heave of 55.95 meters, just behind Louisville's Rachel Serafin who tossed a best mark of 56.02 meters.
Keller finished with a best mark of 44.69 meters in the discus.
"We are coming off a four week layoff from competition," director of track and field and cross country Jeff Bovee said. " We competed hard despite the cool temperature in the low 30's. It was breezy conditions, but we had a great day and a really good start to our outdoor campaign. Ariel Michalek winning the 1,500-meter race in her debut outdoor meet for Illinois State was an 18 second improvement from when she was at Wisconsin. Ashley Kamin had a strong 1,500 race as well finishing thrid with a season-best opener and coming off a great indoor conference championship. We had a strong contingent in the 1,500 for both the men and women. It was a great start for JD LaFayette taking second in the 1,500, and Aidan Askin had his best debut. Jianna was great winning shot and finishing second in hammer. She was disappionted missing out on qualifiying for the NCAA Indoor Championships, but she is hungry to get to Eugene (Ore.). Stevie Hartzell had a nice long jump today and 100-meter race, so that was a great effort from him as well. We kept out our short sprinters and didn t run the 4x100 to avoid unwanted injuries this week. We want to go into outdoor season as healthy as we can, but today was a overall good season-opener."
Men's Track
Stevie Hartzell opened up his 2015 outdoor season strong, clocking 11.19 in the preliminary heat of the 100-meter dash and finishing with a 100-meter time of 11.03 to place fifth overall. Hartzell also notched a top-three finish in the long jump, leaping to a mark of 6.74 meters, his best opening mark of his career, to earn second. Raimon Clay finished fourth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.99.
In his outdoor debut, JD LaFayette showed strength in the 1,500-meter race, finishing third overall with a time of 3:54.33. Aidan Askin was just behind LaFayette, clocking 3:55.12 to place fourth. Jeff Bajema and Ryan Bybee were eighth and ninth in the field with times of 4:00.74 and 4:00.96, respectively, while Paul Steeno ran 4:02.15 and Dave Eckhart was 4:02.92.
Kyle Hatton led the Redbird men in the 800, finishing second in the field with a time of 1:55.62. Tye Sutherland ran to a fourth-place finish with a time of 1:56.35, and David Curnock finished at 1:59.14.
In the 5,000-meter race, Marcelo Burbano opened with a time of 15:00.87, and in his Redbird debut, Kyle Mattes ran a 5K time of 15:15.27.
Javar Cruz ran a season-opening best time of 53.73 in the 400-meter hurdles, and Jalen Lewis clocked 55.71.
CJ Hamilton was the lone Redbird in the 400-meter dash, clocking a time of 50.52. Hamilton was joined in the 4x400-meter relay by Cruz, Lewis and Ben Montgomery. The foursome clocked a time of 3:26.00.
Women's Track
Ariel Michalek ran a personal-best 1,500-meter time to cruise by the competition for a first-place finish. Michalek ran 4:34.26, three seconds ahead of second-place. Ashley Kamin clocked a third-place time of 4:38.39, while Haley Goers finished one spot behind Kamin with a time of 4:40.58. Sydney Billingsley, Kim Christensen and Kimi Sanden finished 6-7-8 with times of 4:42.34, 4:42.61 and 4:42.92, respectively.
Molly Krawczykowski led the ISU squad in the 800-meter dash with a time of 2:21.40 to finish seventh overall. Sanden was just behind her with a time of 2:24.12. Krawczykowski and Sanden were joined by DeAsia Garrett and Patrice Jones in the 4x400-meter relay that clocked a time of 4:02.78.
In the women's 400-meter dash, Garrett led the way for the Redbird duo, clocking a 400-meter time of 1:00.46, while Jones was behind her at 1:02.53.
In the women's 5,000-meter race, Haley Verbeke opened her outdoor season with a time of 17:39.97, while Ashley England clocked a 5K time of 17:52.30.
Men's Field
Chase Pavelonis finished second in the pole vault, opening his senior outdoor season with a mark of 4.83 meters, while Kevin Fisch finished a spot behind him with a mark of 4.63 meters.
AJ Marmion heaved a best mark of 47.06 meters in the discus to place ninth, while Kyle Lombardino was one spot behind him in 10th with a mark of 44.21 meters.
Both Jake DeJaegher and Logan Zeman jumped to a best mark of 1.88 meters in the high jump.
Women's Field
Jalynn Roberts-Lewis led the Redbird foursome in the long jump, leaping to a best mark of 5.43 meters to finish fourth in the field. Kolby Hoffman jumped to a best mark of 5.06 meters, while Shelby Allen and Camila Dayson-Aravena finished back-to-back with jumps of 5.01 meters and 4.80 meters, respectively.
Amanda Young opened her outdoor season with a best mark of 3.22 meters in the pole vault. Young finished seventh in the field.
The Redbirds are back in action April 3-4, as they will split squads for the Stanford Invitational and EIU Big Blue Classic.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
