KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com

CHARLESTON, ILL. ? Sophomore Robert Webb leads the men's decathlon while freshman Kelly Steffen is sitting in second in the women's heptathlon after the first day of competition at the Neil Moore Multi's, part of the Eastern Illinois Big Blue Classic which runs through Saturday.

“All of the multi eventers for us were very consistent in their attitudes today, even when the event did not go their way,” Angie Martin, Indiana State women's track & field head coach and coach of the multi-event athletes said. “They were very steady today. This is a great weekend for them to build upon what we have been doing in practice and for us to see what we need to fine tune before the conference championship. If they just take care of business tomorrow, they should all do well. I am very satisfied with how it went today.”

Webb leads the field of 10 competitors with 3,319 points. The sophomore opened the day's competition with a victory in the 100 meters with a personal best time of 11.42. He also established personal bests in the long jump (second at 21'-3.25”/6.48 meters) and the 400 meters (fourth in 53.11). He matched his personal best of 6'-4.25” (1.94 meters) in finishing second in the high jump.

Sophomore teammate Dexter Childress is in eighth place with 2,692 points and would have been higher except for scoring no points in the high jump after failing to clear the opening height. Childress did come back to win the 400 meters with a personal best time of 50.64 to cap his day. The sophomore also established personal bests in the 100 meters with a second place finish in 11.57, the long jump with a sixth place finish at 20'-5.75” (6.24 meters), and the shot put with a second place finish at 35'-2.5” (10.73 meters).

Steffen scored 2,641 points through the first four events to enter the second day of competition in second place. The freshman is within striking distance of heptathlon leader Shelby Schaal of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2,760 points) with just 119 points separating the two heading into the final three event son Friday. Freshman Rachael Johnson is currently in fourth place with 2,391 points while junior Patricia Merrion is in fifth with 2,097 points.

Steffen opened the day with a second place finish in the 100 meter hurdles (15.78). The freshman followed that by tying for first in the high jump by clearing 5'-2.5” (1.59 meters) and placing second in the shot put with a heave of 31'-6” (9.60 meters). She closed out the day with a fourth place finish in the 200 meters (27.47).

Johnson also tied for first in the high jump by clearing 5'-2.5” (1.59 meters) while finishing fourth in the 100 meter hurdles (16.89), fourth in the shot put (28'-7.5”/8.72 meters), and fifth in the 200 meters (28.24).

Merrion closed out her day on a strong note, winning the 200 meters in 26.82. she also finished fifth in the shot put (28'-0.75”/8.55 meters), tied for fifth in the high jump with a personal best 4'-6.25” (1.38 meters, and finished sixth in the 100 meter hurdles (18.44).

The decathlon will resume at 11 a.m. (ET) with competition in the 110 meter hurdles followed by the discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw, and 1500 meters. The heptathlon will resume at 12 p.m. (ET) with competition in the long jump followed by the javelin throw and 800 meter race.

The Big Blue Classic itself will get underway at 3 p.m. (ET) with competition in the women's hammer throw followed by the men's hammer throw. The running events will begin at 7 p.m. (ET) and will probably finish under the lights at O'Brien Stadium. Leading off the action will be the 400 meter hurdles followed by the 4x800 meter relay, 5,000 meter race, 4x400 meter hurdle relay, and 10,000 meter race.

Saturday will be a full day of competition at Eastern Illinois starting with the men's javelin throw and the women's discus throw at 11 a.m. (ET). Competition in the long jump, triple jump, pole vault, high jump, shot put and javelin will continue into the early afternoon.

Running events will start at 12:30 p.m. (ET) with the 110 meter hurdles preliminaries following by the 100 meter preliminaries at 1:10 p.m. (ET). Finals in all running events will start at 2:30 p.m. and conclude around 7 p.m. (ET).

Running down the leaderboard from top to bottom in the Heptathlon: 1. Shelby Schaal, SO, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2,760 points; 2. Kelly Steffen, FR, Indiana State, 2,641 points; 3. Laura Hamel, JR, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2,601 point; 4. Rachael Johnson, FR, Indiana State, 2,391 points; 5. Patricia Merrion, Indiana State, 2,097 points; 6. Teresa Banks, Illinois Wesleyan, 1,916 points; 7. Amanda Kessel, Illinois Wesleyan, 1,339 points.

Running down the leaderboard from top to bottom in the Decathlon: 1. Robert Webb, SO, Indiana State, 3,319 points; 2. Quinn Mongoven, Unattached, 3,311 points; 3. Dan Simon, SO, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 3,232 points; 4. Ben Cadgan, JR, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 3,157 points; 5. Drew Feuk, JR, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 3,077 points; 6. Luke Parker, FR, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 3,013 points; 7. Austin Schulthies, Unattached, 2,845 points; 8. Dexter Childress, SO, Indiana State, 2,692 points; 9. Brent Witterbottom, Unattached, 2,482 points; 10. Kedrick Smith, Illinois State, 626 points (withdrawn).