Williams Earns All-Valley Honors On First Day of MVC Championship

NORMAL, Ill. – Senior thrower Jianna Williams began the first day of the 2015 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championship on a solid note, as she placed second in the women's hammer throw to earn All-MVC honors on her home track at the Redbird Track and Field Complex Friday.

Williams' performance was one of just six finals on the day, which was spent primarily on the beginning of the men's and women's multi-events and several preliminary heats in the 1,500-meter and 200-meter dash.  Due to inclement weather following the end of 200-meter dash, the men's javelin competition was suspended and the 10,000-meter races were moved to Illinois Wesleyan to be run under the lights.

Saturday's schedule was adjusted for the weather, with the conclusion of the men's javelin competition set to resume at 9 a.m.  The decathlon will start at 9:30 a.m., followed by the conclusion of the heptathlon at 10 a.m.  The remainder of the field events will start at 1 p.m., and the running events will now begin at 3 p.m.

Women's Field
Williams posted a mark of 62.13 meters (203-10) on her fourth throw of the series to finish second behind DeAnna Price of Southern Illinois.  Williams earns All-Valley honors in the event for the second year in a row outdoors and remains in second place on the MVC best list heading into the NCAA First Round.   

Men's Field
Senior Kevin Fisch got off to a strong start in the men's decathlon event, finishing the first half of the competition in fifth place with 3,384 points.  His best performance of the day came in the high jump, where he finished second with a jump of 6-04.25 to earn 749 points.  He also ran a personal-best time of 11.50 in the 100-meter dash to finish in sixth place.  In the only final of the day, Evan Garretson placed 13th overall in the men's hammer throw with a heave of 153-00.

Women's Track
In late action at Illinois Wesleyan, Kim Christensen and Ashley England each placed in the Top 8 of the 10,000-meter run to earn points for the Redbirds.  Christensen finished in sixth place with a time of 36:36.05 and England was just under a minute behind in eighth plays in 37:21.73.  Senior Ashley Kamin ran a time of 4:38.05 in the first heat of the women's 1,500-meter run to advance to Sunday's final in the event.  Kimberly Sanden just missed out on the Top 10 in 11th place with a time of 4:39.01, just missing a chance to advance to the finals.  A trio of Redbird runners also just missed out on advancing to the finals of the 200-meter dash, as Sarah Mussallem (24.64), Jalynn Roberts-Lewis (24.65) and Katelyn Hill (24.67) in 11th through 14th places, respectively, after all heats had been run.
 
Men's Track
In the final race of the day, junior Tyler Morse ran to an eighth-place with a time of 30:28.06 in the 10,000-meter race for the Redbirds. Junior Aidan Askin punched his ticket to the 1,500-meter final on Sunday with a personal-best time of 3:52.81 in heat two, and heads into the final in fifth place overall.  Senior Anderson Devonish also began his championship on a strong note, placing the second-best qualifying time of the day in the 200-meter prelims with a time of 21.04, just behind Brandon Carnes of UNI with a time of 20.96.

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