Eastern’s track and field program gained the momentum they wanted going into the OVC Indoor Championship, with both programs finishing in third place and earning 28 top-10 finishes in the EIU Friday Night Special.

For some of these athletes, these results will either gain momentum for the Indoor Championship or give them a spot to compete.

“I just told them it’s our last time to make a statement before the OVC’s,” said track and field director Brenton Emmanuel. “Go out there and let people know we are here. This week we are looking to bring home as much hardware as possible.”

For the women’s track events, senior Pedra Hicks earned a second-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles at 8.74 seconds.

Sophomore Chloe Irish finished in third place in the 800-meter run, crossing the finish line at 2 minutes and 25 seconds. Sophomore Kate Bushue finished in fourth place in the mile run at 5 minutes and 12 seconds.

Junior Sophia Keith took third place in the 400-meter dash at 1:00.07 and fifth place in the 200-meter dash at 26.39 seconds. 

The quartet of redshirt freshman Kameron Re’ Frazier, freshman Amani Jackson-Gladney, junior Maddy Gil and redshirt sophomore Milan Carter finished in third place in the 4×400-meter relay  with a time of 4 minutes and 17 seconds.

For the men’s track events, Payton Powell took second in the 400-meter dash at 51.55. Freshman Jekeel Suber crossed the line third in the 60-meter hurdles at 8.21 seconds, and redshirt junior Ricky Owens finished fourth place in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.95 seconds.

Freshman Will Bullock finished fourth place in the 3000-meter run at 9 minutes and four seconds. Freshman Riley Baker took seventh in the 200-meter dash at 23.26 seconds.

“Before the race, I was just telling myself to get out, compete, and have fun,” Baker said. “I was happy with how I finished considering I have never run an indoor 200 before, but I’m always looking to improve.”

In the field events for the women’s program, senior Jasmine Woodley took third in the weight throw with her throw of 18.24 meters. For the men, sophomore Nick Phillips took third in the weight throw with his throw of 16.97 meters. Junior Clayton Turner finished third in the shot put at 16.02 meters.
Eastern’s track and field program will travel to Birmingham, Alabama to compete in the OVC Indoor Championship, beginning Wednesday.

“I think that on both the men’s and women’s sides we all got out and competed this weekend,” Baker said. “A lot of us were just getting some tune up races before conference, but either way everyone on our team was there cheering each other on and that’s really a big thing that’s going to help us going into conference.”

Blake Faith can be reached at 581-2812 or bmfaith@eiu.edu