Panther tennis retains Mayor’s Cup by beating WIU

For the sixth consecutive year, Eastern tennis defeated Western Illinois and retained the Mayor’s Cup.

Chuck LeVaque extended his streak of singles victories to three at WIU Brophy Courts when he defeated Leatherneck freshman Martin Bostrom.

The women defeated a short-handed Leatherneck squad 6-1 only losing at No. 3 singles.

Both the Panther men and women ended lengthy losing streaks. The men broke out of a four-match losing streak and the women snapped out of a five-match skid.

The Leathernecks won the Mayor’s Cup in 1999, the first year of the Mayors Cup, but the Panthers have held it ever since.

Men’s track sweeps OVC weekly awards

Austin Hogue and Kirkland Thornton took both of the Ohio Valley Conference “male track athletes of the week” awards for their performances at the Southern Illinois Collegiate Series over the weekend in Carbondale.

Hogue took the field athlete award with a 204-10 mark in the javelin, which automatically qualified him for the NCAA regionals.

Thornton took third place in the 400-meter hurdles and third place in the 110-meter hurdles.

Women’s golf takes 11th at Saluki Invitational

The women’s golf team took 11th at the 13-team Saluki Invitational held at Hickory Ridge Golf Course in Carbondale.

Eastern finished 110 strokes over par as a whole and 72 back of the winning team, Bradley.

Four Ohio Valley Conference schools attended the tournament. Eastern Kentucky came in second, Murray State finished in fifth, and Austin Peay took eighth.

The Panthers best finisher was freshman Carrie Riordan. Her total score of 168 placed her in a four-player tie for 39th place out of 82 total golfers.

Riordan shot an 82 Sunday then followed that with an 86 on Monday to put her at 24 over par for the tournament. Bradley’s Meghan LeBlanc took first with a 3-over 147.