NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State track & field hosts the 16th annual Coughlan-Malloy Cup, a dual meet against Indiana State, on Friday, Jan. 17 inside Horton Field House. The meet will be the first home meet for the Redbirds since January 2013. Field events begin at 3 p.m., while running events have a 4:30 p.m. start time. Admission is free.
ABOUT THE COUGHLAN-MALLOY CUP
Dating back to 2005, the Coughlan-Malloy Cup is named after legendary head coaches John Coughlan (Illinois State) and Bill Malloy (Indiana State). Coughlan won 17 Missouri Valley Conference team titles over his 23 years at the helm of the Illinois State track & field program. His success leading the Redbirds earned him spots in both the MVC Hall of Fame and the Illinois State Athletics Percy Family Hall of Fame.
The Coughlan-Malloy Cup is given to the winner of the combined men's and women's team scores at the meet. Since the cup's founding in 2005, the Sycamores have held the overall advantage over the Redbirds, winning the meet 12 out of 15 meetings.
The Redbirds have won the last two meetings at the dual, with last year marking the first time ISU won the meet in back-to-back years. Illinois State will not only be looking to win its third-straight men's and women's indoor MVC titles, but also its third-straight Coughlan-Malloy Cup title.
ON THE RISE
Coming off an impressive opening meet at the EIU Early Bird, Tori Ortiz will look to continue her winning streak at the Redbirds' home meet. The sophomore sprinter won her two individual events with personal-best times and helped the 4x400-meter relay to a win in Charleston before the break, earning her MVC Female Track Athlete of the Week honors, the first league weekly honors of her career.
Ortiz wasn't the only sprinter to have a strong season-opening performance for the Redbirds. She joined Mya Robinson, Kai Larson and Jordyn Bruce as one of four student-athletes who posted a personal-best time in a sprint event at EIU.
Freshman Joe Boyer opened his collegiate career in a big way, not only winning the shot put at the EIU Early Bird, but also recording the sixth-best mark in ISU history at 17.35 meters (56-11.25 ft.).
Other newcomers to watch include Tate Walcott, Eddie Winner, JT Lowder and Grace Daun, who all won their respective events in their first collegiate meet in December.
LAST TIME AT THE COUGHLAN-MALLOY CUP
At last year's Coughlan-Malloy Cup, Illinois State took home its second-consecutive victory, winning 18 of the possible 30 individual events. The meet highlights included two Redbirds setting meet records and two Redbirds posting top-10 performances in school history in their respective events.
Seniors Grace Beattie and Jack Anstey both set Coughlan-Malloy Cup meet records in 2019. Anstey's 800-meter run time of 1:53.49 broke a nine-year record previously held by Indiana State's Jeremiah Vaughn. Beattie recorded a time of 9:46.21 in the 3000-meter run to ended former Redbird Rachael Brewer's six-year tenure with the record.
Throwers Logan Calvin and Tayler Weaver both etched their names into Illinois State track & field history, moving up the indoor top-10 list at last year's dual with the Sycamores. Calvin, who is redshirting this season, recorded huge personal-best marks in both the shot put and the weight throw. His shot put mark of 17.74 meters (58-02.50 ft.) ranks third all-time in ISU track & field history. Weaver surpassed her previous best mark in the weight throw by nearly two meters last year, moving her into sixth all-time in the event at 18.21 meters (59-09.00 ft.).
ON THIS DAY IN REDBIRD TRACK & FIELD HISTORY: JAN. 17
On Jan. 17, 2004, the Redbird track & field squads competed at the Illinois Open in Champaign.
MVC PRE-SEASON POLL
For the second-straight year the Illinois State women received all 10 first-place votes for 100 points in the MVC indoor pre-season poll. Southern Illinois and Indiana State both finished with 83 points in a tie for second place, followed by UNI in third with 72 points. Missouri State (fourth) and Loyola-Chicago (fifth) rounded out the top five on the women's pre-season poll with 58 points and 53 points, respectively.
The Redbirds received five of the possible nine first-place votes on the men's side for 76 points, just edging UNI who garnered four first-place votes for 74 points. Indiana State (64 points), Southern Illinois (54 points) and Bradley (42 points) complete the top-five men's teams in the pre-season poll.
UP NEXT
The Redbirds will split next weekend with the multi event student-athletes traveling to UNI for the Jack Jennett Open on Jan. 23-24 and the rest of the team heading to South Bend, Indiana, for the Notre Dame Invite on Jan. 25.
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