Eastern Illinois's indoor track teams completed their final away meet of the season at the Grand Valley State Big Meet Friday evening with various Panthers placing in the top ten. Many Panthers also earned personal bests in their events before heading back home for their final home meet.
Alex Gomez (18:54.35) and
Kylie Haacke (18:55.15) both set new PRs for their times in the women's 5000 meter run. Gomez placed ninth in the event while Haacke finished right behind her in 10th place. In heat 2 of the women's 5000 meter,
Kate Bushue finished with a time of 17:48.79 to lead all Panthers in that event.
Avani Flanagan placed eighth in heat 3 of the women's 3000 meter run and finished with a time of 10:34.96, while
Kylie Decker finished with a time of 10:55.14 in the same heat.
Lindsey Carlson made her indoor track debut on Friday night in the second heat of the women's 3000m and ran a 10:06.72 to earn 12th place. Tarquin Taryn placed fifth in the women's final in the triple jump with a distance of 11.00m.
Akiya Kollore finished in fifth in the women's 60m hurdles prelims, and placed sixth in the finals with a time of 8.82. This marked her second meet in a row with a finals appearance. In women's shot put,
Marie Koch finished in 12th place with a throw of 12.32m and
Taylor Iverson finished in 13th with a throw of 12.21. Jenna Grezkowiak led all Panthers in the women's weight throw with a distance of 14.61m to earn a 12th place finish.
The women's 4x400m team of
Alicia Adams,
Zakiya Johnson,
Shanisa Stinson, and Kollore placed eighth out of 15 teams. They finished with a time of 3:54.03.
On the men's side,
Richie Jacobo and
Trevor Murphy both earned new PRs in the men's 3000m. Jacobo finished with a time of 8:26.70 (8th in heat 2) and Murphy finished with a time of 8:33.39 (2nd in heat 3).
Sean Hopkins finished 10th in the men's 60m dash prelims and finished with a time of 6.94.
Riley Baker finished in 11th place in the 400 meter dash with a time of 48.50 while
Josiah Neal finished in 16th with a time of 49.02. This puts them in first and second in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Ramsey Hunt finished in 5th in the men's long jump with a distance of 6.86m to lead all Panthers.
Matthew Gladieux finished in 3rd in the men's shot put with a distance of 15.47. Fellow Panthers
Sebastian Swistak and
Bradley Olysav finished in fourth and fifth place respectively.
Elijah Skutt also earned a third place finish in the men's high jump with a distance of 1.92m.
Jaime Marcos (5th) gets himself on the EIU all-time list yet again for his performance in the men's 5000m with a time of 14:12.37. This now gives him the fourth fastest time in school history in that event.
Dustin Hatfield (10th) was just behind him with a time of 14:22.19. Hopkins also placed third in the men's triple jump with a distance of 13.57m.
The men's 4x400m team of Baker,
Makhtar Mbaye,
Josiah Neal, and
Damian Clay placed fifth out of 11 teams. They finished with a time of 3:16.89.
Eastern Illinois will return to action next Friday, Feb. 18 at 2 p.m. in Lantz Indoor Fieldhouse for their final home meet of the season, the EIU Friday Night meet. Schedules for this event will be released next week.
