On day one of the Big Blue Classic, Eastern track and field athletes were able to win one individual event, one relay title and place in the top three in seven other events being held at O’Brien Stadium.

Junior Pat Tortorici placed first in the men’s 400-meter hurdles with a time of 52.73 seconds, which gave Eastern its only individual event win.

During day two of the Big Blue Classic, six Eastern athletes hit NCAA regional marks.

In the men’s 100-meter and 200-meter sprints, freshmen Zye Boey and DeMarcus Brooks placed first and second, respectively, while also passing NCAA regional marks.

Boey placed first in both events with a time of 10.33 in the 100-meter and 20.92 in the 200-meter.

Boey credited Brooks with pushing him to finish first in both events.

“It really felt great to get that extra push from a teammate,” he said. “I’m happy for DeMarcus as well because I think we both qualified for regionals.”

Brooks finished second in both the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints with times of 10.36 and 21.11.

That marked the second straight week that Brooks hit the regional mark.

Brooks said his strong performance was a result of getting off to a quick start.

“I felt I ran well,” he said. “I thought I was strong with getting off the blocks today.”

In the high jump event, junior Ian Winston placed third with a jump of 6-feet, 10.75 inches, which was good enough to break the NCAA regional mark.

Winston said he was pleased with the way he jumped and that his focus heading into regionals will be consistency.

“I felt that I jumped pretty good today,” he said. “The competition level today was pretty heavy, but I was able to stay the course and block that out and focus. Right now I’m just trying to keep my consistency, whether it be in the warm-ups or the jumps.”

On the women’s side, junior Kandace Arnold placed first in the shot put with a new personal best throw of 48-feet, 6.25 inches.

Arnold also placed third in the discus throw Saturday.

In the women’s 800-meter, red-shirt freshman Megan Gingerich was able to pull off a come-from-behind victory to take first with a time of 2:16.29.

That time ranks 10th on the Eastern career list.

Gingerich said during the last 100 meters of the event she could feel she had a chance to win.

“Usually in my last 200 (meters), I try to keep my eyes up on who’s in first place,” she said. “I could feel that I had enough to catch her, so I just tried to give it my all.”

The meet was the final home event for the Panthers’ track teams this season.

They will compete on the road the rest of the season, including at the Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Championships May 1 and 2 in Richmond, Ky.

Eastern’s next event is Saturday at the Lee Calhoun Classic, which is hosted by Western Illinois University. It is an all day event and will take place in Macomb.

Neil Schneider can be reached at 581-7944 or jnschneider@eiu.edu.

Freshman jumper Queenie Adeboyej performs in the triple jump during Saturday’s home meet at O’Brien Stadium. (Erin Matheny/The Daily Eastern News)

(more…)