NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State men's and women's track & field teams are ready to make some noise this weekend at the Music City Challenge, hosted by Vanderbilt, in Nashville, Tennessee. Jack Anstey will stray from the rest of the flock, as he heads to Ames, Iowa, for the Iowa State Classic.
MUSIC CITY CHALLENGE MEET INFORMATION
The Music City Challenge will take place at Vanderbilt's Student Recreation Center on Friday, Feb. 8 and Saturday, Feb. 9. The meet will kick-off Friday at 3:30 p.m. with the men's and women's high jump and women's weight throw competitions. Running events will follow at 7 p.m. with the women's 200-meter dash. Saturday's slate will get underway at 10 a.m. with the women's unseeded 3,000-meter. Field events will commence shortly after at 10:30 a.m. with the women's unseeded pole vault.
Admission for spectators is $5 per day. For fans who cannot be in attendance, live results will be provided by CFPI timing (click here). Real-time results will also be posted on the @Redbird_TrackXC Twitter page, as well as on GoRedbirds.com following the conclusion of each day of the meet.
IOWA STATE CLASSIC MEET INFORMATION
Anstey will compete in the mile run at the Iowa State Classic on Saturday, Feb. 9 at 1:20 p.m. The meet, which will be held at the Lied Recreation Athletic Center, will be streamed live on FloTrack.org and will be available to FloPro subscribers. For fans who are not FloPro subscribers and don't wish to purchase a subscription, live results will be provided by Prime Time Timing (click here). Additional coverage can be found on Twitter via @Redbird_TrackXC and on GoRedbirds.com after the race.
Since the start of the 2018-19 campaign, Anstey has looked stronger than ever before. Saturday will mark the third time this season that Anstey has competed in the mile run, with the first two races occurring at the Illini Invite (4:08.08) on Jan. 26 and the Meyo Invite (4:02.22) last weekend. Anstey will look to do something Saturday that has only been done one other time in Illinois State track & field history – run a sub-four mile. If he can accomplish this feat, he will join 2002 NCAA Indoor Mile Champion Christian Goy (3:59.43) on this extremely exclusive list.
FACES TO WATCH
There will be plenty of action to watch out for at the Music City Challenge as well. At last weekend's Meyo Invitational, Ben Montgomery cracked ISU's top-10 list in the 200-meter (21.83) and 400-meter (47.32) dashes, ranking seventh and fourth, respectively, in Redbird history. Montgomery will compete in both races again this weekend, as he looks to climb even further up the charts.
After taking last weekend off, Logan Calvin, along with the rest of the Redbird throwers, will be back in action Friday. Calvin has had an outstanding sophomore campaign thus far, posting the third-farthest shot put throw (18.27m/59-11.25) in Illinois State history. The women's shot put group of Brandy Thomas, Julia Bourke, Tayler Weaver, and Kassie Hoyme is also a force to be reckoned with after being ranked eighth in the nation via the USTFCCCA's Event Squad Rankings.
Hattie Plumb and Ariana Cranston will look to keep their momentum going after posting personal-best performances at the Meyo Invite. Plumb captured a personal-record in the 800-meter run (2:09.14), while Cranston cleared a personal-best 4.00m (13-01.50) in the pole vault. Both marks rank third all-time on their respective top-10 lists.
NEXT UP
The Illinois State men's and women's track & field teams will have their final tune-up before the 2019 MVC Indoor Championships when they travel to Madison, Wisconsin, for the Badger Red & White Classic on Feb. 15.
For all the latest on Redbird Track & Field and Cross Country, visit GoRedbirds.com and follow the 'Birds on Twitter (@Redbird_TrackXC) and Facebook (@redbirdTF). Â
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