Erica Moore repeats as heptathlon champion;
Major Clay, Chennelle Martin claim high jump titles,
Michael Disher Takes Steeplechase title
KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
NORMAL, ILL. ? Indiana State senior Erica Moore won her second straight heptathlon title with a dominating performance Saturday at the 2010 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Moore won all three of today's events (long jump, javelin, and 800 meter run) to finish in first with a school record and personal best point total of 5,553.
Sycamore junior Major Clay also claimed a championship on Friday, taking the men's high jump with a leap of 7'-2.25” (6.19 meters). This was Clay's second straight MVC Outdoor title. Junior Chennelle Martin matched Clay by winning the women's high jump in a jump-off, clearing a personal best 5'-7” (1.70 meters). Junior Michael Disher closed out Saturday's competition by winning the men's 3,000 meter steeplechase with a time of 8:55.98 which was just a half second off his personal best time.
Senior Lauren Martin finished second in the long jump with a leap of 19'-8.25” (6.00 meters) while junior Alicia Fritschi was second in the pole vault by clearing 12'-0” (3.66 meters). On the men's side, sophomore Brandon Pounds was second in the shot put with a heave of 56'-10” (17.32 meters).
Both the Indiana State men and women's teams hold down third place in the team standings of both divisions entering the final day of competition.
Wichita State took over the men's lead from Southern Illinois with the Shockers totaling 98 points and the Salukis 88. The Sycamores are third with 51 with Illinois State fourth (40), Northern Iowa fifth (28), and Drake seventh (7).
“We didn't qualify in several events on the track for tomorrow so that will make it a little tight in the scoring,” John McNichols, Indiana State men's track & field coach said. “Between our youth and injuries, we are kind of just finding our way. This is really a developmental year for us and I didn't expect to challenge for the team title this year but I have seen a lot of positives so far this weekend.
“We still had some great events today,” McNichols said. “Clay defended his high jump title and had several good attempts at 7'-4” in an event that was moved indoors due to the intermittent rain. Pounds had quite a battle with (Joe) Paradiso of Southern Illinois to place second. And a great event for us was the steeplechase which Disher won.”
Disher, who was runner-up two years ago and third last year, made a great move at the last water jump and sprinted to the finish to take the win.
“The race was really decided on the first couple of steps out of the water,” McNichols said. “Dustin (Betz) and Brandon (Query) also had great finishes to give us three scorers in the race.”
Southern Illinois continued to hold down the top spot in the women's team race with 105 points. Wichita State moved from third to second with 63.5 points with the Sycamores moving from fourth to third with 57 points. Illinois State dropped from second to fourth (45) with North Iowa fifth (42), Missouri State sixth (20), Drake seventh (14.5), and Bradley eighth (3).
“Erica was just phenomenal today,” John Gartland, Indiana State women's track & field coach said. “She just dominated the competition and then came back to easily qualify for the finals in the 400 meters.
“The big shock happened late in the day when Chennelle (Martin), who has been injured most of the indoor and part of outdoor season, won the high jump in a jump off,” Gartland said. “Lauren (Martin) was strong in long jump and finished second while Fritschi tied for second in pole vault. We also have more qualifiers than I thought we would have. I think we have enough that we will try to hang onto third but it will be close battle.”
The 5,553 points Moore scored in the heptathlon is the eighth best point total in the nation. It breaks Moore's own school record of 5,368 points she accumulated in 2008 and surpassed the 5,330 points she accumulated in winning the event at the 2009 MVC Outdoor Championships.
Moore won five of the seven events enroute to her second straight MVC heptathlon title. Northern Iowa's Olimpia Nowak won the other two events (with Moore second) and finished second in the heptathlon with 5,244 points. Tanya Freisen of Wichita State was third with 4,553 points.
Moore began the day by winning the long jump with a leap of 18'-5.25” (5.62 meters) beating Nowak by nearly four inches (18'-1.75”). The Sycamore senior followed that by winning the javelin with a throw of 111'-2” (33.88 meters) as she beat Freisen by nearly four feet (107'-6”). Moore concluded the heptathlon by winning the 800 meters by 11 seconds over Nowak as she ran her second fastest 800 meters of the season at 2:08.58. Nowak was second at 2:19.95.
Indiana State freshman Robert Webb completed his first decathlon competition today, finishing 10th with a total of 5,668 points. Webb was seventh in the 110 meter hurdles (15.88), 10th in the discus (74'-7”), eighth in the pole vault (10'-11.75”), and 10th in the in the javelin (112'-5”). He finished the decathlon with his best finish of the competition, placing fourth in the 1500 meters (5:00.45).
Webb also finished ninth in the regular high jump competition with a leap of 6'-1.25” (1.86 meters).
ISU's Chennelle Martin and Annie Smith were in a group of six competitors in the women's high jump that cleared 5'-5.25” (1.66 meters). Martin won in a jump off with Smith placing fourth. Amanda Paden and Richelle Kimble followed Fritschi in the women's pole vault as each cleared 11'-6.25” (3.51 meters) with Paden placed seventh and Kimble ninth.
Jaquelle Spencer tied for seventh in the women's long jump with a personal best leap of 18'-0.25” (5.49 meters) with Shalesa Smith 14th with a leap of 16'-2.50” (4.94 meters). Felisha Johnson was eighth in the shot put with a throw of 45'-9.75” (13.96 meters) with Tara Perigo 13th at 42'-1.25” (12.83 meters).
Stacia Weatherford and Sarah Snapp advanced to the Sunday finals of the women's 100 meter hurdles as Weatherford ran a personal best and posted the fourth best time of 14.20 while Snapp ran the eighth best time of 14.36. Tori Stone finished 15th in 14.98.
All three of the Indiana State runners in the 3,000 meter steeplechase scored by placing in the top eight led by Disher's winning performance. Dustin Betz finished sixth in 9:18.05 while Brandon Query was eighth in 9:37.40.
Michael Roberts advanced to the Sunday finals of the men's 110 meter high hurdles after posting the best time in the preliminaries of 14.22 which was a personal best. Patrick Mendenhall and DeJuan Mitchell also ran personal best but did not make the finals as Mendenhall finished 10th in 15.07 and Mitchell 12th in 15.20.
The Sycamores will be represented in the finals of both the women's 400 meter hurdles and the men's 400 meter hurdles. Erica Moore had the third fastest time in the women's preliminaries at 59.94 with Weatherford also advancing with the eighth best time at 1:00.36. Stone just missed the finals, placing ninth in 1:03.59 while Rachel Posey was 13th in 1:08.32. Tykeen Fulton advanced from the men's preliminaries with the eighth best time of 55.25.
The Sycamores did not have anyone advance to the finals of the 400 meters or 800 meters. Leeann Michl was the top ISU finisher in the women's 400 meters in 14th (58.55) with Kaci Smith 17th (58.76) and Macey Black 17th (59.79). Adriane Wunderlich was 20th in the 800 meters (2:20.70). On the men's side, David Ertel placed 11th in the men's 400 meters (51.37) while Corey Hahn was 14th in the 800 meters (1:56.35) and Andrew Lepkowski 16th (1:57.79) in the 800 meters.
The 2010 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships will wrap up on Sunday starting at 12 noon (ET) and conclude at approximately 5:30 p.m. (ET).
