ALLENDALES, Mich. – Illinois State had several impressive performances all around at the Grand Valley State Big Meet, including one from the women's 4x400-meter relay squad that captured the second fastest time in school history.
That relay team included Ally Christiani, Amanda McClain, Ashleigh Wilson and Sarah Mussallem who won the women's 4x400 by a land-slide with a time of 3:42.98. The foursome was just three-tenths of a second from breaking the school record of 3:42.68 that was earned in 2006.
"The women's 4x400-meter dominated tonight," Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Jeff Bovee said. "They narrowly miss the school record and they only race together twice. We expect so many great things to come for this group."
Kelly McShea had a stellar performances at the Iowa State Classic as she posted a new personal-best time of 9:24.30 in the 3,000-meter run, which improved her time by ten seconds (9:34.90). She is currently leading the Valley in the 3K.
"Kelly knocking ten seconds off her personal best this week in the 3K puts her on top of the Valley leaderboard in both the mile run and 3K," said Bovee. "She is gaining more confidence week to week and this prepares her well for the Valley Championships."
The Redbirds had great success on the track this weekend. Christiani earned a spot on ISU's all-time best list in the 600-meter run with a personal-best time of 1:35.00. Michael Jopes had similar success as he posted a personal-best time of 1:21.16
In the 800-meter run, Kyle Hatton earned a personal-best time of 1:52.96, which is ranked eighth on the Valley leaderboard. Ryan Bybee followed with a time of 1:54.37.
Aidan Askin posted a strong effort in the men's 3,000-meter as he finished third with a time of 8:22.30, followed by Kyle Mattes in fourth with a time of 8:23.61.
Elise Anderson advanced to the women's 60-meter dash where she posted a time of 7.68 and finished fifth overall. On the men's side Shandall Thomas picked up first place as he matched his personal-best of 6.74.
"We had several personal bests in the women's 200m with three breaking 25 seconds, which makes it exciting to watch this young sprint group improve under Coach Emanuel's guidance," Bovee says.
Kaitlyn Pearson had a tremendous performances in the women's 200-meter dash as she captured a personal-best time of 24.78, while placing eighth in a field of 51 student-athletes. Anderson and Emily Cowan had similar success as they placed 11th and 12th with personal-best time of 24.93 and 24.99, respectively. McClain earned a lifetime personal-best with a time of 25.06. On the men's side, Dion Hooker posted a personal-best in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.05.
Other successes on the track include Mussallem capturing the no. 1 spot on the Missouri Valley performance list in the 400-meter dash (55.91). She placed fifth overall in a field of 32 student-athletes. Jackie Mink posted a strong effort in the women's mile run with a time of 4:56.00 and placing 11th overall in a field of 66 athletes.
Other strong performances came from Wes Ward, who improved his personal-best 5,000-meter run by 23 seconds. Ward captured a new all-time best in the 5,000-meter with a time of 15:05.37. Dave Eckhart had similar success in the 5,000-meter as he placed 13th overall with a time of 14:37.39.
Speaking of the 5K, at Iowa State Classic Ryan Rutherford posted a time of 14:09.88.
"Tonight at Iowa Ryan was aiming to break the school and MVC record in the 5K, but was unable to reach the mark," says Bovee. "I know he is disappointed but he will bounce back from this performance quickly as his training is going very well. It is a matter of time before he pops off some fast times.
In the field, Freshman Brandy Thomas captured first place in the women's shot put with a new personal-best mark of 14.40m (47-03.00). Her mark put her on ISU's all-time best list and top 8 on the Valley performance list. She also posted a new personal-best mark of 15.09m (49-06.26) in the weight throw.
"Huge throw from Brandy in the shot put today. She is making tremendous headway with coach Williams," said Bovee.
Amanda McClain earned third place in the women's long jump with a personal-best mark of 5.69m (18-08.00). In the women's pole vault, Emily Clay vaulted a high of 3.66m (12-00.00) to earn sixth place overall.
Redbirds will travel to Champaign, Illinois next weekend to compete on Saturday Feb. 20 in the Illinois Orange and Blue.
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