NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State track & field program will stay close to home this weekend as they will compete at the Keck Select Invitational hosted by Illinois-Wesleyan University. The two-day event will begin on Friday at 4 p.m.
The Redbirds will compete at the home of the Titans for the fourth consecutive year. In last year's event, Illinois State claimed 11 event wins across the two-day meet.
The Redbirds make the short trip following a record-breaking weekend in Columbia, Mo. at the Dr. Rick McGuire Invitational. Across the weekend, seven Redbirds entered the program's top-10 list for their individual event, and the men's 4x400m broke the school record that previously lasted for seven years.
Senior Kiley Sanders moved to third on the program's top-10 list in the women's pentathlon on Friday. Sanders scored 3778 points across the five events in a second-place effort. After her performance, Sanders sits atop the MVC in the pentathlon. Sanders also earned her second MVC Female Field Athlete of the Week honors following her outing on Friday.
Junior Lindsey Miller jumped to seventh on the school's top-10 list for the women's 200m dash after running a time of 24.29 Friday evening. Miller now sits in the top 10 in Illinois State history in both the 60m dash and 200m dash.
On Saturday, Junior Jake Welch entered the top-10 list for the men's 400m dash with a mark of 47.82. Welch becomes the first Redbird to enter the top-10 list in three separate events this season (400m, 600m, 4x400m).
Also in the 400m dash, Freshman Zach Paul joined the top-10 list after running a time of 48.04. Paul now holds a top-10 mark in the 60m dash and 400m dash.
In the men's 3000m, three Illinois State runners entered the program's top-10 list. Senior Zack Loomis was the highest finisher of the trio running a time of 8:07.54. Junior Yusuf Baig finished with a mark of 8:10.37, as Freshman Julian Baker followed with a time of 8:12.40.Â
Baker's time is the fastest mark recorded in a debut 3000m race under Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Jeff Bovee's career at Illinois State. Along with Baker's performance, three Redbirds entering the top-10 list is the most for a single event this season.
To close out the action from Columbia, the men's 4x400m team of Nwagwu, Welch, Paul, and Ward broke the school 4x400m relay after running a time of 3:10.90. As mentioned above, the mark broke the previous record which was held since 2018.
