TEMPE, Ariz.– Eight members of the Illinois State men's and women's track and field teams had strong performances at the 37th Sun Angel Classic, two coming from Anderson Devonish and JD LaFayette.
"A great night here in Tempe as we had many strong seasonal debut races and Valley leading performances," Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Jeff Bovee said. "Andy Devonish led the way for the Redbirds as he finished 4th in the Premiere section racing some of the best in the nation. His 46.32 is his best outdoor debut and not far off from the Olympic A standard."
Devonish had a tremendous effort in the premiere section of the men's 400-meter dash as he finished fourth with a time of 46.32, which is well enough to slide into the top-five of the west region leaderboard and to lead the Missouri Valley Conference.
LaFayette ran a new personal-best in the premiere section of the men's 800-meter run with a time of 1:49.08 and finished seventh overall. His time is leading the Missouri Valley Conference and ranked in the top-10 of the west region qualifying list.
"JD Lafayette finished 7th in the Premiere 800m with a Valley leading time of 1:49.08 in his first race since the Valley Conference meet in late February. This is near a two second outdoor best. JD ran in the fastest race thus far in the NCAA as Walker from BYU ran a blazing 1:44.9 time. JD got a taste of big time competition for the first time," Bovee comments.
Many of the six remaining Redbirds earned personal-best efforts, one coming from Elise Anderson with a huge PR in the women's 100-meter dash with a time of 11.96. Anderson ran in the 200-meter dash at the Mesa Classic on Friday, where she posted another PR time of 24.71.
"Kaitlynn Pearson, Kimi Sanden, and Aidan Askin all ran personal bests and competed very well. And Jackie Mink even-splitted her race and will run faster when she is more aggressive the first 400m. Nonetheless, she also leads the Valley leader boards at this time," Bovee said.
Kaitlyn Pearson posted a strong performance in the women's 200-meter dash at the Sun Angel Classic, as she placed fourth with a time of 24.54. On Friday night, she also competed at the Mesa Classic in the women's 100-meter dash, where she posted a personal-best time of 12.22.
In the women's 800 meter, Jackie Mink posted a stellar performance as she finished third in her heat and ninth overall with a new personal-best time of 2:10.38. Mink's time is currently leading the Valley in the women's 800 meter.
Another strong performance came from Kimi Sanden in the women's 1,500-meter run. Sanden posted a personal-best time of 4:32.63 and placed eighth overall. In the men's 1,500-meter run, Aidan Askin placed fifth and ran a new personal-best with a time of 3:51.62.
Sarah Mussallem posted a strong effort in the women's 400-meter dash as she finished with a time of 55.20 and placed ninth overall.
"We also had Redbird alum and volunteer coach, Tim Glover, win the Javelin in his 2016 outdoor debut," Bovee comments.
Illinois State returns home to Normal, Illinois, to host the annual Redbird Invitational next Saturday, April 16. Stay tuned to GoRedbirds.com during the week for more information.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics, tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
