This weekend the men and women of Eastern track and field are getting deep into the season as it will travel to Indiana State for the Pacesetter meet. 

The meet will continue the road trip for the team, as they creep closer to the OVC Outdoor Championships, now just three weeks away. 

Over the past few meets the track and field team has been consistently good across the board. 

Two weeks ago, a pair of Eastern triple jumpers won the Ohio Valley Conference Field Athletes of the Week for their performance at the Western Kentucky Hilltopper Relays meet. 

Senior Chrisford Stevens won the men’s triple jump and had the first 50-foot jump for Eastern in 11 years as well as putting him sixth in Eastern history for the event with a jump of 50-feet-7.50. Then, redshirt senior Brion Portis won both the women’s triple jump with a mark of 41-feet-9.75, which gave her the furthest jump in the event in the OVC. 

The previous week, graduate student Ryan Pearce earned the OVC Field Athlete of the Week for his first place in the discus at the EIU Big Blue Classic, with a throw of 168-feet-9-inches which is 9th in Eastern history.

Last week, Eastern’s track and field team kept their strong season going, as they finished the Illinois Twilight Meet with a combined four first place finishes. The team was led by the field athletes as Indoor All-American senior Haleigh Knapp placed first in the women’s high jump, and junior Ashton Wilson placed second for the men.

Senior Davion McManis earned top five spots in both track and field events as he placed second in the long jump with a distance of 23-feet-10.25 and placed fourth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.65 seconds. 

Freshman women’s thrower MaKenna Wilson had a successful day at Illinois, where she placed fifth or better in four different events, starting with the javelin, where she placed third. Then in shot put she also placed third with a throw of 42-feet-4, and finished the day off by earning fifth in both the discus and hammer throw. 

The Indiana State Pacesetter meet will take place in Terre Haute Saturday. The next meet will be at Drake University for the annual Drake Relays. 

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