Feb. 2, 2008

Results

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Illinois State middle distance runners sophomore Rob Barkulis, freshman Nick Geyer and freshman Jess Husted highlighted the men's and women's track and field performances, as the trio all achieved personal-best times in the finals of the Indiana Relays, Saturday at Gladstein Field House in Bloomington, Ind.

Barkulis took one second off his finish from the prelims Friday, and finished the 800-meter run with a time of, 1:55.72 (7th place). Geyer also crossed the finish line in 1:56.31, good enough for a ninth-place finish.

Head track and field coach Elvis Forde believes that he cannot ask for anything more from his student-athletes, as long as they go out and compete to the best of their ability and feels that the Barkulis and the middle distance runners did that today.

"Rob (Barkulis) had a very good performance," said Forde. "He ran faster today than he did on Friday in the preliminaries. We know that he is capable of running even faster, and it is exciting to see him get a PR (personal-best)."

Husted shaved 16 seconds off her fastest 3,000-meter run, as the Metamora, Ill., native placed fourth with a time of 10:24.41.

"For a freshman (Husted) to continue to improve and drop time in each meet that she competes in is very encouraging," said Forde.

The Redbird women sprinters also had a solid day, as seniors Devon Williams and Anna Lovell led the group into the finals. Williams ran a season best 60-meter dash in the semifinals (7.65 seconds) to qualify for the finals, where she placed eighth with a time of 7.67sec. She later ran in the 200-meters and placed 10th, with a season-best time of 25.16 sec. Lovell ran season-best times in the 400- (57.02 sec.) and 200-meters (25.11 sec.), placing seventh and ninth, respectively.

On the Redbird men's side, senior DeAndre Tillman (49.28) and freshman Dan Murphy (50.53) placed eighth and 13th in the finals of the 400-meter dash. Freshman John Navarro (9th) and junior Brian Syring (11th) both achieved personal-bests in the 5,000-meter run, clocking in with times of 15:10.27 and 15:12.72, respectively.

In the finals of the men's triple jump, freshman Robert Kamentsev placed eight with a personal-best distance of 45-07.00 feet.

"Under the circumstances, I was really pleased with our team's performances," said Forde. "The preliminaries ran late last night and the weather yesterday could have distracted our athletes, however, they kept focused. I think that their performances really showed their maturity. If we continue to improve and keep working hard, we will peak at the right time."

The Redbirds will head to South Bend, Ind., next weekend for the Meyo Invitational Feb. 8-9. The meet is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m., CST Friday.