NORMAL, Ill. – After having last weekend off, Illinois State track & field is prepped for another weekend of competition at Southern Illinois' Don DeNoon Invitational in Carbondale. The meet will NOT allow spectators.
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
The Don DeNoon Invitational is a dual meet between Southern Illinois and Illinois State with the exception of the distance events, which will have competitors from Southern Indiana. The Salukis return senior jumper Willie Rodgers, who was named the Missouri Valley Conference's Most Valuable Athlete at the Indoor Championships after scoring 20 points for winning both the high jump and the triple jump. The SIU women won seven MVC titles at last year's MVC Championships, while the men's team won five.
LAST TIME OUT
ISU had 11 student-athletes record personal bests in route to a women's first-place team finish and a men's second-place team finish at the Jack Jennett Open. The throws squad shined at the UNI Dome with the women's team finishing 1-2-3 in both the shot put and the weight throw. After sitting out last season due to injury, senior Logan Calvin had a big return to the ring, throwing a personal-best mark of 19.69 meters (64-07.25 ft.) to win the weight throw and improve his previous best mark by over two meters. That mark surpassed Redbird legend Curt Jensen on the ISU Indoor Top-10 list as the sixth-best mark in school history.
MVC ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
Seniors Brandon Gage and Sydney Laufenberg both garnered their first career Missouri Valley Conference Athlete of the Week honors (Jan. 27) for their performances at the Jack Jennett Open. Gage, who was named the Male Track Athlete of the Week, ran a converted time of 48.62 seconds, which is the fastest time in the Valley and the only sub-49-second 400-meter time currently. Laufenberg, who was named the Female Field Athlete of the Week, threw an MVC-leading 19.09 meters (62-7.75 ft.) in the weight throw. That mark is the 37th-best in the NCAA.
USTFCCCA TOP-25 EVENT SQUAD RANKINGS
No. 6 Men's Shot Put
No. 8 Women's Weight Throw
No. 9 Men's Weight Throw
No. 15 Women's Shot Put
No. 22 Women's Pole Vault
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
The men's team will compete on Friday, while the women's team will compete on Saturday. The schedule is the same for both days.
Field Events
10:00 a.m. - Weight Throw, Pole Vault
12:00 p.m. - Shot Put, Long Jump
2:00 p.m. - Triple Jump
3:00 p.m. - High Jump
Running Events
2:00 p.m. - 60m Semi's
2:20 p.m. - 60m Hurdle Semi's
2:40 p.m. - 800
3:00 p.m. - 400m
3:30 p.m. - 60m Final
3:40 p.m. - 60m Hurdle Finals
3:55 p.m. - Mile
4:10 p.m. - 200m
4:25 p.m. - 3000m
4:55 p.m. - 4x400m
HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG
Fans can get live coverage of the meet on Twitter at @redbird_trackxc.
UP NEXT
The cross country team will travel to Nashville, Tennessee for the Lipscomb Winter Classic on Feb. 6 for their first competition of the year after the fall 2020 season was postponed to the spring. After the Don DeNoon Invitational, the track & field team will be back in action on Feb. 12-13 at the Grand Valley State University Big Meet in Allendale, Michigan.
In accordance with state and local guidelines, fans are currently not allowed to be in attendance at home ISU Athletics events. Game dates, opponents, times and locations are subject to change.
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