The track and field men’s team won the Panthers’ only home meet of the outdoor season, and the women earned 139 points to place second overall.

Senior Riley McInerney smashed the meet record in the steeplechase, adding to the Panthers’ 16 top-five finishes. McInerney ran the steeplechase in 9 minutes, 07.63 seconds, earning him his second first-place finish of the classic. He also won the 5,000-meter run on the first day of the meet and posted the fifth best time in school history at 14:20.84.

Senior Jamal Robinson was the only other individual men’s runner to place in the top five. Robinson earned the silver in the 100-meter dash with time of 10.65 seconds.

The 4×100- and 4×400-meter relay teams earned second and fourth, respectively. The 4×100-meter relay team tied with Illinois State as Robinson, junior Davion McManis and sophomores Ja’Marcus Townsend and Michael Miller finished the race in 40.99 seconds. Miller, Townsend, freshman Bradley Phillips and junior Lars Ott finished the 4×400 in 3:18.95.

Sophomore Ashton Wilson placed third in the men’s high jump after clearing 6’6”. Junior Chrisford Stevens earned second in the triple jump after coming just .01 meters shy of Illinois-Chicago’s Shaun Wollenweber who leaped 14.83 meters.

Senior Julie James led the women as she placed first in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:40.40. Fellow senior Ruth Garripo followed suit with a second-place steeplechase performance after finishing the race in 11:08.85.

Senior Kristen Paris also placed in the 1,500-meter run with a fifth-place time of 4:42.10. Paris and James each added a second top-five finish with Paris placing fourth in the 800-meter dash and James placing fifth in the same event.

Junior Nyjah Lane added third-place points with her 12.16-second 100-meter dash. Junior Stephanie Dominguez was fifth in the women’s 400-meter run with a time of 59.07 seconds.

The 4×400-meter relay team consisting of Dominguez, James, Paris and junior Darneisha Spann took third place with a time 3:56.63.

Junior Haleigh Knapp led in women’s field events. Knapp placed second in the women’s high jump when she cleared 5’6”.

Junior Lexie Yeley and sophomore Kaitlyn Ebert placed third and fifth, respectively, in the javelin throw. Yeley had a throw of 120’7”, and Ebert’s throw measured 114 feet.

Illinois State was first on the on the women’s side because the team earned 194.5 points. Indiana State came in third followed by the University of Illinois and Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.

The University of Illinois came in second after Eastern on the men’s side. Indiana State once again placed third, Illinois State earned fourth and fifth belonged to Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The men and women also competed against Western Illinois, Valparaiso University, Saint Louis University and Bradley University.

The Panthers will travel to Illinois State for their third outdoor meet on April 8.

Kaitlin Cordes can be reached at 581-2812 or krcordes@eiu.edu