CARBONDALE, Ill. ? The Indiana State University Sycamores opened up strong in the 2006 Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships with two individual champions. Freshmen Erica Moore and Kylie Hutson each won an individual title in action Friday at Southern Illinois University while the women's distance medley really team was also a winner. The men also had a winner on the day as Curt Sunderland captured the high jump.
Sullivan (Ind.) freshman Erica Moore captured the women's indoor pentathlon on Friday with a total of 3638 points. That was just 62 points short of a provisional qualifying mark for the NCAA Championships. Moore finished fourth in the long jump (17-feet-9 ?), fourth in the shot put (33-feet-3), sixth in the high jump (4-feet-11 ?) and fourth in the 60 meter hurdles (9.18). She clinched the title by winning the 800 meters in 2:13.22. Jillian Yorn was 10th (3099) for the Sycamores with Dana Sander 11th (3019).
Kylie Hutson, a freshman from Terre Haute, Ind., took first place in the women's pole vault at 12-feet-8 (3.86 meters). Diana Price, a freshman from Pimento, Ind., was sixth with a vault of 10-feet-8 ? (3.26 meters).
The distance medley relay team of Dani Prince, Lauren Martin, Erica Moore and Laura Engle was the third winner of the day for the women's team, winning the event with a time of 11:48.61.
“This was the best day ever for the women's team at the conference meet,” John Gartland, women's track coach, said. “This day was beyond our expectations.”
Janae Bridges placed second in the long jump for the Sycamores with a leap of 19-feet-3 ?. Jeanne Roberts advanced to the finals of the 60 meter dash after finishing second in the preliminaries in 7.65 and fifth in the semifinals in 7.67. Valara Anderson was sixth in the preliminaries in 7.72 but failed to advance to the finals after finishing seventh in the semifinals in 7.71. Myra Bess qualified for the finals of the 60 meter hurdles by finishing third in 8.95 during the preliminaries Friday.
Also advancing for the Lady Sycamores was Adrian Wunderlein in the 800 meters as she finished fifth in the preliminaries with a time of 2:16.29, and Janae Bridges in the 200 meters who finished fifth in the preliminaries with a time of 25.08.
On the men's side, Sunderland won the high jump with a leap of 6-feet-9 ? (2.08 meters). In another final, the Indiana State distance relay team finished third in 10:05.08.
“We didn't have the kind of day that the women did but I think we are poised to challenge Northern Iowa,” John McNichols, men's coach, said. “We advanced a lot of individuals into tomorrow's finals.”
Carlton Hoyles is currently fifth in the heptathlon with 2660 points with teammate Anthony Bertoli is seventh with 2422 points.
Jeremy Gillingham finished second in the shot put for the Sycamores with a throw of 53-feet-1 ?. In the long jump, Rylen Peterson was third for Indiana State (23-feet-4 ?) with Corey Dowden fourth (23-feet-0 ?). Jake Conn was fourth in the pole vault (16-feet-5 ?).
Back on the track, Justin Kunz finished third in the 5000 meters in 14:59.39 while Scott Keeney was fifth in 15:06.77.
Paladin Jordan and Clayton Wilson both advanced in the 60 meter hurdles as Jordan finished fourth in the preliminaries in 8.25 and Wilson fifth in 8.26. Hoyles just missed advancing with an eighth place finish in 8.50. Indiana State had all three competitors in the 60 meters advance out of the preliminaries as Jereamie Gray was second in 6.90, Steve Daniel third in 6.93 and Tony West fifth in 7.02. Sean Wright was the fastest in the preliminaries of the 400 meters with a time of 47.98.
Also advancing to tomorrow's finals was James Twitchell and Brad Ada. Both advanced in the 800 meters as Twitchell was fourth in the preliminaries (1:58.77) and Ada was fifth (1:58.23).
Jeramie Gray was seven in the 200 meter preliminaries in 22:47, just missing advancing to the finals.
The Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships conclude Saturday.
