The end of the indoor track and field season is near as the team wrapped up their long streak of road meets last weekend at the Grand Valley State Big Meet. They posted a total of 12 top 15 finishes in events.

The men finished in seventh place while the women for Eastern finished in 13th. The team had a strong performance overall, having top finishers from across many events as they are heading into the home stretch.

The field events were a strong point for the team as many athletes had top 15 finishes with junior Joe Smith leading the way for the Panthers with his first place finish in the long jump.

He set his new season best in the event and the third best distance in the OVC with a leap of 23-feet-07.25. Another success in the field events came from senior Chrisford Stevens’ second-place finish in the triple jump and fourth place finish in the long jump, with marks of 14.94 meters and 6.99 meters, respectively.

Stevens’ triple jump mark also moved him into second place in the OVC for the event.

There were also top 15 finishers for the throwers. Graduate student Ryan Pearce earned a fourth place finish, throwing 53-feet-07.0 and junior Clayton Turner also finished in the top 10 with his sixth-place throw of 50-02.00.

In the distance events senior Maria Baldwin had a strong 3000-meter race as she finished in 12th place with her time of 9:53.96.

In field events, though senior Haley Knapp did not earn a sixth straight first place finish in high-jump, she said she is excited to compete at home for the remainder of the indoor season.

“It is going to be nice, being able to relax before a meet these next couple weeks. All the road meets are great but they do take their toll,” Knapp said.

Eastern’s track and field team will have their last meet before conference at home at the Lantz Fieldhouse Friday at 2 p.m. The OVC Championship is Feb. 23 in the Lantz Field House.

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