In their second meet of the indoor season, but their first meet against outside competition, both the men and women’s track and field teams placed an impressive second at the Illinois-Wesleyan relays in Bloomington, Illinois.
The men finished second of eight teams, losing only to Augustana College, who scored 148 points to Chicago’s 68. The women finished second of seven teams, amassing 97 points, second only to Illinois-Wesleyan University’s 125.
The men’s side was bolstered by several strong performances in the individual events, which are fewer in number and of greater importance in relay meets such as this.
In the field events, third-year Adeoye Mabogunje opened his season in the high jump, winning the event easily with a height of 2.02 meters, a provisionally qualifying standard for this year’s Division III National Meet. Also, second-year Brian Eichhorn placed second in the pole vault with a height of 4.27 meters.
On the track, third-year Babak Yousefian, last week’s UAA Athlete of the Week, finished second in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 7.83 seconds. And third-year Sam Yount is making an impressive comeback from injury, this time finishing third in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 15:50.
As for the relay races themselves, the men managed a number of impressive performances; most notably two second-place finishes in the distance medley relay (DMR) and the 4×800 meter relay.
The DMR team of third-year Patrick Sullivan, fourth-year Tim Tuff, second-year David Barr, and fourth-year Peter Bugg ran an impressive early season time of 10:23.24, losing only to the team from Augustana College, which won the event in 10:18.32.
The 4×800 meter relay team of Sullivan, Barr, third-year Karl Striepe, and Tuff then ran 8:03.39 to again finish second to the team from Augustana, which won in 8:01.69.
The women’s team was lead both by strong individual performances in the field events and even stronger showings in the longer relay races.
Fourth-year Diane Valos won the pole vault competition, clearing a height of 2.89 meters. Third-year Val Anderson finished second in the weight throw, provisionally qualifying for the Division III National Meet with an effort of 14.27 meters, in addition to finishing third in the shot put with an effort of 9.98 meters.
On the track, the women’s relay teams made short work of the competition, winning both the distance medley relay and the 4×800 meter relay, as well as finishing second in the 4×200 meter relay.
The DMR squad of first-year Jessica Winter, first-year Gaby Jones, fourth-year Clarisse Mesa, and second-year Erin Steiner won the event in a time of 12:43. The winning 4×800 meter relay squad of Mesa, second-year Emily Kay, Steiner, and Winter set a new school record time of 9:55.
The 4×200 meter squad of Jones, fourth-year Cristina Metildi, fourth-year Jelena Pantel, and second-year Lauren Camp ran a time of 1:53.06 to finish second to the team from Illinois-Wesleyan University, which won the event with a time of 1:50.41.
Both men and women’s teams will compete again this Saturday at the Warhawk Invitational in Whitewater, Wisconsin.
