Sport in world

Indoor track and field heads to Iowa Open

February 22, 2008 on 9:45 pm | In Athletics |

MACOMB, Ill.- The Western Illinois indoor track and field teams will head to Iowa City, Iowa, to take place in the Iowa Open, Saturday, January 19.

This Year’s Open
The annual co-ed event will be held in the University of Iowa Recreational Building with events kicking off at 11 a.m. Other participating teams are Iowa, Coe College, Iowa Central CC, Marquette, Truman State, and Wartburg. Admission to the event is free.

Last Year’s Open
Sophomore Nikki Klier took first in the 400-meter dash with a time of 59.62. Fellow sophomore Katie Jay finished the 1-2 punch for Western finishing behind Klier with a time of 1:01.59. Klier also finished third in the 200-meter dash, crossing the finish line with a time of 26.30. Senior Amy Zaffino also had a good showing for the Westerwinds, finishing second in the weight throw (54-00.00/16.46m) and seventh in the shot put (37-11.50/11.57m).

Senior Sean Delahunt lead the way for the Leathernecks with a second-place finish in the shot put and a third-place finish in the weight throw. Delahunt lost to only the eventual Big Ten shot put champion, Shane Maier, with a throw of 58-10.25(17.94m). His weight throw of 54-03.75(16.55m) finished in third-place, just ahead of teammate Walt Willis.

The 800-meter run was also a strong event for Western at last year’s Iowa Open as junior Jared Schmidt and senior Kevin Deegan finished second and third, respectively.

Purdue Invitational
Western Illinois earned four first-place finishes in last weekend’s Purdue Invitational. Freshman ChrisDell Harris, who transferred to Western from Barton County CC, had two of the four first-place finishes, winning the 60-meter dash (7.69) and the 200-meter dash (26.04).

Other first-place finishes came from Western were junior Kyle Austin and sophomore Eric Anerino. Austin finished first in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.90 and Anerino won the 3,000-meter run, crossing the finish line with a time of 8:48.48.

Ryan Makes Immediate Impact
In his first collegiate track and field meet, freshman Andrew Ryan broke the school’s indoor record for pole vault with a mark of 15-07.00(4.75m). The Rolling Meadows, Ill., native broke Kevin Carson’s 1999 record by an inch.

Around the Conference
The men’s track and field team has four top performances in the Summit League while the women’s team occupies three of the conference’s top performances. Austin and Ryan own the top 200-meter dash and pole vault scores, with their performances at the Purdue Invitational. Delahunt’s throws at the Eastern Illinois Early Bird Invite are the top performances in the weight throw (55-09.00/16.99m) and the shot put (57-04.75/17.49m).

One of the women’s teams top performances have come from Klier’s 400-meter dash time of 58.34 at the EIU Early Bird Invite. The other two top performances have come from junior Mary Kate Jackson’s 5:23.06 mile time and Zaffino’s weight throw of 53-06.25(16.31m) at the Purdue Invitational.

Originaly from Source