Though the outdoor season has only endured three meets so far, the track and field freshmen are making their mark for their first outdoor competitions as a Panther.

Five men and three women hold a combined 10 top-three season performances among the team. Abby Nicholson and Bradley Phillips each hold two of these positions.

Nicholson has the season’s third-best discus and shot put throws thus far. Her furthest discus throw clocked in at 133’02”, and she’s thrown the shot put as far as 38’04”.

Phillips earned the third-fastest 400-meter dash time at the Southern Illinois-Carbondale Bill Cornell Invite where he finished the race in 51.38 seconds. He is also part of the 4×400-meter relay team that holds the season-best time of 3 minutes, 18.95 seconds.

Marcus Skinner holds the top position on the team in the 10,000-meter run. Skinner finished his fastest race this season in 31:28.40, a time he earned at Eastern’s only home meet of the season.

Robby Prescott is currently the Panther’s second-best 1,500-meter runner for the men. At the Illinois State meet, he placed 12th with a time of 3:57.82.

Tyler Lay has earned the third-best time in the men’s steeplechase. Lay earned his spot last weekend at the Illinois State meet with a time of 10:37.02. His time is 50.88 seconds below senior Michael Mest’s second-best team time in the event.

Colton Yeakley, an Atwood, Ill., native, is the men’s third-best javelin thrower. At the season opener at SIU-Carbondale, Yeakley posted a mark of 137’01.25”, earning him third in the event among his teammates.

Billi Fox is the women’s second-best high jumper right below junior Haleigh Knapp. Fox cleared her season-high mark at the ISU invite, sailing over 5’01” to boost her to the team’s silver spot.

Sophia Keith’s fastest 200-meter dash time puts her at third-best on the women’s team. Her 26.32-second performance at ISU barely misses senior Ashley Fouch’s second-best time by 0.09 seconds.

Being in the team’s top three in their events is nothing new to these freshmen, however. Skinner, Keith, Nicholson and Nick Phillips each held a top-three spot in the indoor season.

Nick Phillips had the men’s second best weight throw after posting a measurement of 56’10” in Feb. Skinner had the third-fastest time in the 5,000-meter run at 15:13.48.

Keith posted the third-fastest time in the women’s 400-meter dash with a time of 59.07 seconds. Nicholson was once again a top performer in the shot put as she had the team’s second-best throw of 43’09”.

The men’s roster is filled with 14 freshmen which also includes Bryce Billings, Wylie Anderson, Raymond Crittenden, Austin Earp, Justin Hall, Logan Peters, Zack Phillips and Raul Rosendo.

The women have seven freshmen on their team including Sadie Elliot, Maddy Gil, Shannan Spun and Louisa Rieger.

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