Redbirds Travel to Chicago for Windy City Invitational

THIS WEEK
The Illinois State track & field squad travels to Chicago for the fifth annual Windy City Invitational hosted by the University of Wisconsin on Feb. 6-7 at the Dr. Conrad Worrill Track and Field Center at Gately Park. Events begin at 1:00 p.m. on Friday and 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. Live results will be available online here. The meet will stream live on RunnerSpace.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
The Windy City Invite featues the top athletes from universities across the country. Select sprinters, hurdlers, distance runners and throwers from Purdue, Indiana, Louisville, Tennessee, Tulane and host school Wisconsin.

• The Purdue women have three event groups ranked in the top 20 in the nation (60m hurdles, 200m, 400m)
• The Wisconsin men's 800m group is ranked eighth in the country.
• Tennessee boasts the second-ranked men's indoor team in the nation, ranking first in the 60m dash and pole vault and fifth in the 400m race. The Tennessee women rank 10th as a team, featuring the third-best 60m squad, fourth-best pole vault group, fifth-fastest 200m squad and 19th-best 3000m group in the country.

(Rankings from USTFCCCA)

LAST TIME OUT
Three multi athletes represented ISU at the Dr. Rick McGuire Invitational in Columbia, Missouri, last weekend: Sydney Skarich, Ryan Schaefer and Trey Thomas.

• Skarich posted a personal best in the pentathlon with a score of 3387 to place 10th. She recorded a personal-record mark of 10.52m in the shot put. 
• Schaefer placed fourth in the heptahlon with a personal-record of 5127 points, also posting a personal-record in the shot put with a athrow of 11.91m.
• Thomas earned a personal-record 4550 points in the heptahlon to place sixth overall. He notched personal bests in the shot put, pole vault, long jump, 60m dash and 1000m run.

USTFCCCA #EVENTSQUAD RANKINGS
The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association released its second checkpoint of #EventSquad rankings for the 2025-26 indoor season on Feb. 3, and multiple Redbird event groups were featured among the nation's best.

• The ISU men's shot put group, with freshmen Zach Cowper and Jo Atkins and juniors Jacob Klink and Garrett Taylor, is ranked seventh in the nation (69.22m, 17.30m avg).
• The ISU men's high jump group comprised of freshman Voldy Makabu, senior Rob Pulliam, junior Kaden Stewart and sophomore Trey Thomas is rated 11th in the country (8.23m, 2.06m avg).
• The ISU women's 60m hurdles group, including seniors Macee Rivers and Erin Starks and juniors Nya Browne and Cambria Geyer, is ranked 17th nationally (33.95, 8.49 avg).