NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State men's and women's track and field teams are set to host the Redbird Invite Saturday at the Redbird Track and Field Complex. It will be the first of two home meets for the Redbirds in May, as ISU will host to the 2015 Missouri Valley Conference Championships, May 15-17.
The Redbird Invite will begin at noon Saturday with the shot put and discus. ISU seniors will be recognized at 1:55 p.m., before the running events begin at 2 p.m. Action on the track will kick off with the 100-meter relays and will conclude at 7 p.m., with the 1500-meter run.
ISU will compete against Bradley, Chicago State, Eureka College, Lincoln College, Loyola, Washington, Webster and Western Illinois.
"We're ready to have a great weekend," ISU Director of Track and Field Jeff Bovee said. "We have some quality teams coming in, although some of the teams are somewhat limited due to final exams and how many athletes are traveling to the meet. But, there are definitely going to be some key matchups in some running events and some field events. We will also see how we match up against ourselves. A lot of our top competition will come from each other on our team."
At the prestigious Drake Relays last weekend, Anderson Devonish competed in the 4x100-meter relay, the 4x400-meter relay and the sprint medley relay. With Devonish holding down the anchor leg of the 4x400-meter relay team, he helped the Redbirds race to a season-best 3:10.34. Devonish recorded a 45.1-second split, which was the fastest split in the entire race. Devonish also helped ISU's 4x100-meter relay team record its best time of the season, as ISU earned 16th place overall with a 41.14 mark.
The Redbird women's 4x1600-meter relay team finished in seventh place with a time of 19:44.03, breaking the previous program record of 19:54.77 established in 2013, while beating Big Ten foes Illinois and Iowa. ISU's record-breaking relay included the following splits: Ariel Michalek: 4:52; Haley Goers: 4:53; Kimi Sanden: 5:02; Ashley Kamin: 4:54. The Redbird men's 4x800-meter relay squad finished in 10th place with a time of 7:36.18. JD LaFayette tuned in a 1:50.6 leg to highlight the effort.
Later, in the women's 10,000-meter run, Ashley England finished 19th, clocking a time of 36:22.41, which is ISU's ninth-best in program history. On the final day of competition at the Drake Relays, Michalek competed in the 3000-meter steeplechase, finishing 12th at 10:44.15, which is the seventh-best time in program history.
Chase Pavelonis finished 10th in the men's pole vault with a leap of 4.92 meters (16-01.75 feet), signifying ISU's fourth-best mark in program history during the second day of competition.
Follow the Redbirds on Twitter @ISU_Track_XC or at the conclusion of the meet on www.GoRedbirds.com.
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