Last week the majority of the athletes of Eastern track and field competed at Western Illinois and some competitors went to the west coast to the Mt. Sac relays in California.  Now the team is back together this week and set to head to the University of Illinois for the Illinois Twilight Meet this Saturday evening.

The last time Eastern was at the University of Illinois was during the indoor season for the Illini Classic, where Eastern took fifth in the winter. Eastern competes against Illinois, Easter Illinois, Ball State, Bradley, Butler, Dayton, DePaul, Fort Wayne, Illinois State, IUPU, Marquette, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and University of Illinois-Chicago.

Eastern showed its track abilities by having a handful of athletes compete at the Mt. Sac relays. School records were broken far away from home; senior distance runner Ruth Garippo set a new record in the 10,000 meter run with a time of 35:20.52, which shattered the school record by 40 seconds, and earned her 40th at the relays. Senior Rachel Garippo moved into the school record books when she ran a 10:42.14 time in the women’s steeplechase, which put her second place in the event in school history and 14th in the event.

For the rest of Eastern Track and field they competed at Western Illinois University, where there were 11 first place finishers at the meet. Eastern’s dominance in the field events starting with the throwers. Senior thrower Riley Kittridge had a pair of first place throws. In shotput, his throw of 54’4.25” was first and No. 10 all time on the Panther record list and in discus his mark of 161’1” was first as well.

Junior sprinter Darneisha Spann also earned a first place finish with her 100-meter hurdle time of 13.98, fifth in EIU history.

The Illinois Twilight begins with the field events at 3 p.m. while track events start at 4 p.m.

Alex Hartman can be reached at 581-2812 or at aihartman@eiu.edu