CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – On the second and final day of the Illini Invitational, hosted by Illinois, Luke Nelson made Illinois State track & field history, winning the pole vault competition and shattering the ISU school record in the process.
"I am so incredibly proud of Luke Nelson," said associate head coach Mary Wood. "He competes with passion and works extremely hard, and all of his work is starting to pay off. Our vault squad doesn't just jump for the team, they jump for each other. This is just the beginning of more big bars to come from the entire vault squad."
Nelson, whose previous personal-record was 5.08m (16-08.00), recorded a monster personal-best, clearing 5.29m (17-04.25) to win the event and take down Chase Pavelonis' previous school record of 5.28m (17-03.75) that was set in 2015. With the mark, Nelson not only ranks first in the Valley by a landslide, but 20th in all of Division I as well.
The women's pole vaulters, led by Ariana Cranston and Nicole Bagwell, excelled Saturday as well. Cranston cleared over 13 feet for the first time of her career, posting a height of 3.97m (13-00.25) to win the event. Bagwell recorded a personal-best of her own, clearing 3.77m (12-04.50) to place third. With their marks, the pair now ranks third and fifth, respectively, in Redbird track & field history.
TEAM RESULTS
In addition to individual victories in the men's and women's pole vault, the women's team won the entire meet with 179 points, taking down nine other schools, including Big-10 opponent and in-state rival Illinois. The Redbird women received individual event wins from seven student-athletes. On the track, Grace Beattie won the mile run (4:51.04), Destiny White won the 400-meter (58.83), and Hattie Plumb won the 600-meter (1:33.99) with the seventh fastest time on the ISU top-10 list.
The 4x400-meter relay team of Whitney Ward, Plumb, Rachel Hickey, and Ashleigh Wilson also placed first in 3:56.28 after Wilson made up a ton of ground on the final leg of the race. In the field, Victoria Gruszka won the triple jump (11.48m/37-08.00) and Kristin Higgins won the high jump (1.70m/5-07.00).
The Redbird men's squad, who finished in second place overall behind Illinois, had four individual event winners. Jack Anstey won the mile run with a time of 4:08.08 to remain undefeated on the season. Logan Calvin had yet another impressive performance, winning the shot put competition for the third straight meet with a throw of 17.98m (59-00.00). The men's 4x400-meter relay quartet of Nick Swartzendruber, Brandon Gage, Avery Lyons, and Devon Kelly also emerged victorious, clocking in at 3:19.10.
OTHER NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Women's 800-meter
2nd – Rachel Hickey (2:11.72), seventh all-time in ISU history
Women's 3,000-meter
4th – Annie Moore (10:09.88), personal-best
Women's Shot Put
3rd – Brandy Thomas (15.31m/50-02.75)
4th – Julia Bourke (15.06m/49-05.00)
Men's 200-meter
2nd – Ben Montgomery (21.95), season-best
Men's 800-meter
2nd – Jake Gillum (1:53.18), personal-best
4th – Nick Swartzendruber (1:55.64), personal-best
Heptathlon
2nd – Jordan Wilkerson (4,657 points)
4th – Caleb Miedema (3,999 points), seventh all-time in ISU history
UP NEXT
The Illinois State men's and women's track & field teams will be back in action next weekend when they return to South Bend, Indiana, for the Meyo Invite, hosted by Notre Dame, on Feb. 1-2.
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