CHARLESTON, Ill. ? The Indiana State men's track and field team won the Eastern Illinois University Big Blue Classic while the women's team finished second, completing a very cold outdoor event.
“In my 35 years of coaching, this is probably the coldest meet I have ever been associated with,” men's head coach John McNichols said. “The temperatures were brutal. Under these conditions, I was very pleased with the results. We didn't have any injuries, which is amazing. The team took good care of themselves between events.”
Indiana State won the men's team title with 237 points while Eastern Illinois was second at 221 and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee third at 142. Eastern Illinois took the women's title with 255 points while Indiana State was second with 207 and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee third with 171 points.
Kurt Heimann ran away to a victory in the 800 meters with a time of 1:56.84. Jake Conn was also a winner, taking the pole vault at 23-feet-4-inches (7.11 meters) while Curt Sunderland captured the high jump at 6-feet-10.25 (2.09 meters) and Corey Dowden the triple jump with a leap of 49-feet-5 (15.06 meters).
Paladin Jordan was third in the 100 meter hurdles (14.90) with Clayton Wilson fourth (15.32). Antinoice Surry finished second in the 100 meters (10.94) while Patrick Mendenhall was fourth (11.14). Adam Lies followed a seventh place finish in the 100 meters (11.23) with a second place finish in the 200 meters (22.65). Mendenhall was fourth in the 200 meters (23.15).
Logan Edwards came in second during the 400 meters (49.07) while Randy Placencia took second in the 1,500 meters (4:04.25). Scott Koressel was fifth (4:06.21) and Scott Kenney sixth (4:06.41) in the 1,500 meters. Brad Ada was fourth in the 800 meters (1:59.33), Anthony Bertoli third in the pole vault (15-feet-7), Brandon Youngdale and Dowden tied for fourth in the high jump (6-feet-4), and Rylen Peterson was fourth in the triple jump (41-feet-8.5).
The men's 4x100 meter relay team was second in 42.09 while the 4x400 meter relay team was also second in 3:19.38.
For the women's team, Mary Kate Conway won the 400 meters with a time of 58.60 while Santia Spight won the high jump with a leap of 5-feet-5.75 (1.67 meters). The Sycamores also won the 4x400 meter relay with a time of 3:56.67.
Myra Bess was second in the 100 meter hurdles (14.69) with Amanda Jones third (15.43), Crystal Winfrey took fourth in the 100 meters (13.22), Adriane Wonderlich was second (2:20.20) and Katie Weber third (2:21.22) in the 800 meters, Dani Prince second (4:47.89) and Leah Durr fourth (4:57.99) in the 1,500 meters, Meredith McFatridge took fourth in the triple jump (30-feet-1.50), Diana Price sixth in the pole vault (10-feet-6), Kristin Gaither sixth in the discus (110-feet-0), and Angel Canada fifth in the shot put (38-feet-10.50).
“On any other day, we probably would have won over Eastern,” women's coach John Gartland said. “But we missed several members because of injury or sickness. Still, our team competed very well considering the conditions of the meet.
