Photo Gallery (by Sandy King)

Eastern Illinois hosted their first John Craft invite since 2020, and saw 23 Panthers place first in their events. EIU competed against six other schools including SIUE in the Ohio Valley Conference. This was the Panthers' first home meet since December 14 when they hosted the EIU Early Bird Meet.

In the field portion of the John Craft Invite, Eastern Illinois had seven first place finishes. Bradley Olysav earned his third first place finish of the season in the men's weight throw with a distance of 15.15m. Sebastian Swistak earned his first first place finish of the season after he threw a distance of 15.69m in the shot put. Olysav also placed second in that event (15.10m). Clayre Shaver completed the sweep in the shot put with a throw of 12.11m. Marie Koch placed second in the women's shot put with a throw of 11.83m.

James Boyd earns his second straight men's pole vault win when he posted a mark of 4.10m. Hallee Thomas also placed first in the women's pole vault with a mark of 3.20m. In the men's triple jump, Drew Smith set his personal best with a jump of 12.77m which also earned him his first first place finish of the season. Madison Myrick ended EIU's field portion of the invite with a first place finish in the women's high jump with a mark of 1.63m.

In the afternoon portion of the invite, EIU posted numerous first place finishes in the track events. The Panthers started off with a sweep of the men and women's 60m hurdles. Stenoree Allen posted a time of 8.27 to earn his first first place of the season, and set his new career best. Akiya Kollore earned her second straight 60 hurdles first place of the season with a time of 8.78. 

Kate Bushue picked up a first place finish in the women's one mile with a time of 5:09.49 in her first meet of the season. Jamie Marcos also earned his first win of the season in the mile run after setting a new career best with a time of 4:12.83. In the women's 600m, Whitney Zumbahlen placed first with a time of 1:48.83 to secure her first win of the season. EIU would then go on to have the top four finishers in the women's 60m final with Danielle Frank winning with a time of 7.80. Vivica Coleman, Alicia Adams, and Tianni Marshall rounded out the top four.

OVC Freshman of the Week Sean Hopkins continued his success by winning the men's 60m final with a time of 6.88. Katie Springer earned her first win in the 800m with a time of 2:24.29. Joshua Whitaker helped EIU sweep the 800m with a first place finish with a time of 1:59.30. Whitaker was the only finisher to finish under two minutes. Kollore earned her second win of the meet in the 200m with a time of 25.61. Ricky Johnson joined Kollore in winning the 200m with a time of 22.57. In the first 3000m race of the season, Richie Jacobo finished first with a time of 8:54.70.

In the women's 4000 DMR, the team of Kylie Decker, Springer, Breanna Sheldon, and Bushue finished first with a time of 13:21.43. The men's 4000 DMR also placed first (10:50.69) with the team of Corbin Schwable, Ryan Skowronski, Marcos, Robby Prescott. The meet ended with both men and women's 4 x 400m teams earning first place. The men's team of Riley Baker, Makhtar Mbaye, Adam Swanson, and Josiah Neal finished with a time of 3:29.42. The women's team of Mckenna Wojcicki, Alicia Adams, Thomas, and Zumbahlen finished with a time of 4:17.49.

The Eastern Illinois indoor track team will be back in action on Friday, Jan. 21 when they travel to Indiana University to participate in the Indiana Gladstein Invite held in Bloomington, Indiana. This will be a two-day meet.