AMES, Iowa – Illinois State track & field wrapped up a successful day one at the Iowa State Classic highlighted by two top-10 performances from juniors Kameesha Smith and Kevin Koski.
Smith, who barely clipped the 1.81 meters bar that would have tied the school record, won the high jump with a personal-best clearance of 1.78 meters (5-10.25) to move into the No. 4 spot on the ISU top-10 list. With three wins on the season, Smith is No. 1 in the Valley and tied for No. 21 in the nation.
Joining the Illinois State top-10 list for the first time in his career, Koski shaved 10 seconds off of his 5,000-meter time to place fourth overall. Clocking in at 14:16.95, Koski has the seventh fastest time in Illinois State track & field history and ranks No. 1 in the MVC by nearly 30 seconds.
Four other Redbirds, including three in the 3,000-meter, joined Smith and Koski in recorded personal-bests on day one of the Iowa State Classic.
Senior Annie Moore and junior Jake Gillum both had big days in the 3,000-meter run with Moore running a sub-10-minute 3K for the first time in her career and Gillum improving his time by 16 seconds. Moore's time of 9:57.24 was the sixth-fastest in her section of the 3K, while Gillum's 8:29.67 placed him 14th.
Rounding out the running event career-bests was senior Whitney Ward in the 400-meter dash. Ward ran the first sub-57-second time of her career posting the top finish for the Redbirds in the event at eighth with a time of 56.93 seconds.
Sophomore Hannah Johnson was the only other field event student-athlete to post a personal-best mark, finishing eighth in the weight throw at 16.99 meters (55-09).
OTHER NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Kelsie Prear, 2nd, 60m, 7.73 seconds
Jaclyn Greci, 11th, 400m, 57.07 seconds, season-best
Kellen Kravik, T-6th, pole vault, 5.01 meters (16-05.25), season-best
Sam Peschke, T-15th, pole vault, 4.71 meters (15-05.5), season-best
Max Schweitzer, T-15th, pole vault, 4.71 meters (15-05.5), personal-best
UP NEXT
The Redbirds return to action tomorrow for day two of the Iowa State Classic in the Lied Recreation Center. Fans can watch the meet broadcast on FloTrack with a paid subscription or can follow via live results here. Live updates will also be posted on the @redbird_trackxc Twitter account.
