Madison, Wis. – The Illinois State track and field teams headed north for their final meet before hosting the 2015 MVC Outdoor Championship, and came away with success at the Wisconsin Twilight Friday evening at the McClimon Memorial Track Complex.
Senior thrower Jianna Williams led the way, with a win in the hammer throw competition and a second-place mark in the shot put, which moved her into the Top 10 in the national rankings in the event. Several of her teammates performed well during the competition as well against the likes of the host Badgers, Minnesota and Valley foe UNI, as they head into the Valley meet with some confidence.
"We had some key performances from individuals here in Wisconsin and the performance by the men's 4x400 relay team at Eastern Illinois that I think are going to be critical for us to be able to pick up key points next week at the Valley meet," ISU Director of Track and Field Jeff Bovee said. "We also had several younger athletes that are figuring out how to navigate their way through a long season and are coming away a bit disappointed tonight in how they finished up their year. That's just part of the maturation process about how to manage a long year. Overall, I think we came out of here with a great tune up headed into the conference meet next weekend."
A little bit closer to home, the men's 4x400 meter relay team improved its season-best time set at the Drake Relays by nearly two full seconds to 3:08.87. With that time, the group of Antonio Farley, CJ Hamilton, Jalen Lewis, and Anderson Devonish should have punched their ticket to the NCAA First Round.Â
Men's Field
A focus headed into the meet was the performance of the men in the jumps, and Steven Hartzell answered the call with a leap of 21-06.75 to place third in the long jump, with teammate Travon Diggins right behind in fourth place with a mark of 21-04.25. Ben Montgomery also placed fourth in the triple jump 44-00.75. Chase 16-04
Women's Field
Williams followed up a great performance last weekend at the Redbird Invite with strong throws at Wisconsin. Her toss of 202-05 won the hammer throw in a solid effort and her mark of 55-09.00 was a personal best in the shot put and was good for second place overall. Freshman Shelby Miller was also a winner, as she leapt 37-06.00 to win the women's triple jump event. Morgan Keller placed fourth with a mark of 161-01 in the discus and Amanda Young recorded a new personal best of 11-08.50 for fifth in the pole vault competition. Â
Men's Track
For the second week in a row, Kyle Mattes took home a win in the 1,500 meter with a time of 4:01.08. Ben Montgomery ran to a third-place finish with a time of 48.64 in the 400-meter dash and Raimon Clay ran a time of 10.87 to bring home third place in the 100-meter dash. Clay also placed fourth in the 200-meter dash in a time of 21.84. Elsewhere, Javar Cruz was second in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 53.40, with Michael Jopes in third in 56.31and Austin Corydon in fifth at 57.68.
Women's Track
Jackie Mink was a winner on the track for the Redbirds, as she ran a personal time of 2:10.47 for the win in the 800 meters under the lights and moved her up to No. 7 all-time at ISU. Rayanne Wright was also a winner, as her personal-best time of 57.17 in the 400-meter dash earned her team 10 points. LaDaisha Steen-Yates recorded a time of 25.07, which was good for second in the women's 200-meter dash and Emily Cowan took third in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.65 to round out a strong effort in the sprints for the Redbird women. In the 1,500-meter run, Ellen Devereux was fourth in a time of 5:03.69 and Lindsey Lewis was fifth in 5:09.48.
GoRedbirds.com:Â Your online source for Illinois State Athletics, tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
