Though it took them a little bit longer to get there, the Eastern men’s and women’s track and field teams eventually made it to South Bend, Ind., on Friday for the Notre Dame Meyo Invite. The team was hit with a two and a half hour delay when their bus caught a flat tire en route to the meet.

“Well, we were just driving, and all of a sudden I heard like, a pop, and a boom-boom-boom-boom, and I was like, ‘What’s going on?'” red-shirt senior sprinter Zye Boey said. “That’s when I realized we had a flat tire.”

The delay caused several of the Panthers to miss their events, as the meet was scheduled to being at 4:00 p.m., beginning with the women’s weight throw event.

Sophomores Jalisa Paramore and Justine Moore, along with junior Jill MacEachen were unable to compete in the women’s 60-meter hurdle event, due to the delay.

“It was like a two and a half hour delay, so a couple of our athletes, they were late and they couldn’t get to their races, but it really didn’t affect me that much,” Boey said.

Boey would go on to win the men’s 200-meter dash with a time of 21.12 seconds, while finishing in second place in the men’s 60-meter dash with a time of 6.77 seconds.

Despite the success, Boey said there is still room for improvement.

“I accept the victory, of course, but just the time I ran, I actually wanted to go a little bit faster,” he said.

Boey said it was a matter of him not running his race, and concentrating more on this time.

“That’s what affected me the most, just worrying about time instead of running my race,” he said.

Boey said the Notre Dame Meyo Invite was a great meet for the team, featuring a lot of great performances.

“Overall, we did great, for the most part,” he said. “There’s just a couple areas that we need to work on. For the most part, pretty good, solid performances.”

Red-shirt sophomore pole vaulter Jade Riebold continued to rewrite the Eastern history books, breaking her own school record in the women’s pole vault event. Riebold first broke the Eastern record in her debut as a Panther, then broke it again the following week, and has now broken it a third time.

Riebold posted a vault of 13-feet, 1.75-inches, finishing fourth place in the event.

Also in field events, red-shirt senior Donald Romero posted a personal best of 65-feet, 9-inches in the men’s weight throw event, landing him in second place on the all-time Eastern list.

Meanwhile, in the women’s 4×400-meter relay event, seniors Megan Gingerich, Bridget Sanchez and Emily Quinones, along with junior Erika Ramos posted a time of 3:48.53. The time, ranks as the second best in Eastern history, was the fastest time posted by an Eastern team since 1981.

The Notre Dame Meyo Invite, which hosts some of the best track and field competition in the nation, was a great opportunity for the Panthers to show what they can do, Boey said.

“Teams don’t give us much respect because we’re Eastern Illinois,” he said. “Week in and week out we show everybody else that we’re Eastern Illinois. Just because we’re a small school, we can compete with the best.”

He said that other teams around the nation need to recognize the talent on the Eastern roster.

“It’s funny how everybody looks down on us, but we’ve got five or six guys ranked in the top twenty five in the nation, every year, year in and year out,” Boey said. “I hope they start to realize that, ‘Hey, Eastern Illinois can battle with the best teams in the nation. We come ready to compete against anybody.”

The Panthers will compete next at the Grand Valley State Invite in Allendale, Mich., next weekend.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-7942 or dcrenzetti@eiu.edu.