KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
ALLENDALE, MICH. - The Indiana State men's track & field team won five events including a relay during competition Friday inside the Kelly Family Sports Center on the campus of Grand Valley State University as the first day of the Grand Valley State Big Meet Invitational came to a close.
"It was a pretty good day," John McNichols, Indiana State men's track & field coach, said. "We had many athletes post personal bests and some worked their way into the top 10 of their respective events. I think we can back off a little bit in our training now as we prepare for the conference championships in two weeks."
The Sycamore women also had a good day although they did not come home with any event winners. Still, many of the athletes competing posted personal bests and some may have secured their spot on the MVC travel squad.
The only event remaining for the Sycamores is the second day of the men's Heptathlon which features ISU's Robert Webb who is currently leading the multi-event with 2,893 points. Webb won three of Friday's four events including the 60 meters in 7.25 seconds, the long jump with a personal best 22'-9.75" (6.95 meters), and the high jump by clearing 6'-6.25" (1.99 meters). He also set a personal best in the shot put at 33'-8" (10.26 meters) in placing sixth.
The Heptathlon will resume at 10 a.m. (ET) Saturday with the final three events: the 60 meter hurdles, pole vault, and 1,000 meter run.
Max Tuttle provided Indiana State with their first individual win of the day as he took the 600 meters with a personal best 1:20.22 which is the fifth best in school history. Jonathan Jackson followed with a victory in the 400 meters with a personal best 48.28, the seventh best time in school history.
Jeremiah Vaughan dominated the 3,000 meter race and came within two of his personal best with a winning time of 8:10.63. Vaughan is second on the ISU all-time list at 8:08.78. Ernest Rollins provided ISU with their other individual win of the day as he went 47'-6.5" (14.49 meters) to tie Tyler Knight of Illinois for first.
The other winning performance came from Max Tuttle, Kevin Piraino, Ryan Dickson, and Jackson who ran a season best 3:13.48 to win the 4x400 meter relay. Piraino also finished third in the 200 meters (21.99).
Dustin Betz ran the eighth fastest 3,000 meter time in school history to finish eighth in 8:19.70 while Albaro Escalera now has the 10th fastest at ISU by finishing 10th in 8:21.62. Duane Brown tied for third in the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 8.18 after running the fourth fastest in the preliminaries at 8.19.
Steven Van Dyke cleared a personal best 6-6.75" (2.00 meters) to finish ninth in the high jump, Dexter Childress cleared 15'-9" (4.80 meters) to tie for fifth in the pole vault, and Rollins jumped 21'-8" (6.60 meters) for sixth in the long jump. Chris Fields finished eighth in the shot put at 50'-3.5" (15.33 meters) and sixth in the weight throw at 56'-10" (17.32 meters).
On the women's side, Valerie Burns ran the third fastest 5,000 meter time in school history with a personal best 17:24.72 in finishing ninth out of the field of 100 runners). Jessica Crowder holds the school record at 16:59.86 with Debbie Ramseyer second at 17:12.17. Jessica Zangmeister moved into sixth place on the all-time list as she finished 11th in 17:26.87.
Richelle Kimble established a new personal best and is now tied for third best all-time after clearing 13'-3.5" (4.05 meters) to finish second in the pole vault. Kimble now shares third all-time with Melissa Ullenbruch who cleared the height in 2005. Nicole Hope was third by clearing 12'-11.5" (3.95 meters).
Kaisha Martin ran a personal best 7.76 in the finals of the 60 meters to finish tied for ninth. She is now tied with teammate Demetra Camble for ninth on ISU's all-time list. Camble was ninth Friday in 7.78, just two-hundredths off her personal best but came back to place eighth in the 200 meters with a personal best 25.16. Jaquelle Spencer was 10th in the 200 meter with a time of 25.22.
Leeann Michl posted a personal best of 56.14 to place eighth in the 400 meters while Shelby Higginbottom also had a personal best of 56.29 to finish ninth in the event. Stacia Weatherford placed fifth in the finals of the 60 meter hurdles in 8.72 with Taylor Gilles running the sixth fastest time in school history at 8.89 to finish 11th. Carmelia Stewart also joined the elite group of hurdlers with the seventh fastest in school history at 8.91 in finishing 12th.
The Sycamore 4x400 meter relay team of Weatherford, Higginbottom, Macey Black, and Michl finished fifth in 3:48.76.
Rachael Johnson and Nikki Snearley each cleared 5'-3" (1.60 meters) in the high jump with Johnson judged fifth and Snearley sixth. Martin finished eighth in the long jump with a leap of 16'-9.75" (5.12 meters), Carmelia Stewart eighth in the triple jump by going 35'-11.25" (10.95 meters), Tara Perigo eighth in the shot put with a heave of 44'-1.25" (13.44 meters), and Kasey Kahle ninth in the weight throw with a distance of 53'-3.75" (16.25 meters).
A total of 1,900 athletes from 50 schools are in competition during the two-day event with most of the unattached and Division I schools competing Friday. Division II and Division III athletes will compete on Saturday.
Indiana State will conclude their pre-conference championship scheduled at Eastern Illinois University next Friday when they compete in the EIU Friday Night Special.
