EIU Track Dominates Competition at WIU

MACOMB, Ill. -- Eastern Illinois dominated competition at the WIU Lee Calhoun Memorial Meet on Saturday as the Panthers collected 18 first place finishes winning both the men’s and women’s team titles. EIU had 11 first place finishes by the women and seven on the men’s side. EIU will compete in the Illini Twilight next week.

EIU won the short sprints on Saturday with Anita Saffa winning the women’s 100m with a time of 12.06. Christian Ilunga-Matthiesen won the men’s 100m with a time of 10.59. Briana Walker brought home a first place for the EIU women in the 200m with a time of 25.04.

The Panthers swept the 1500m race with Kristen Rohrer winning for the women and Riley McInerney winning for the men.  Rohrer posted a time of 4:45.96.  McInerney won his race with a time of 3:56.16. Kristen Paris added a gold medal for EIU in the middle distance events winning the 800m with a time of 2:12.08.

An EIU sweep came in the 100m and 110m hurdle events. Katie Ryan won the women’s 100m hurdle event with a time of 14.03 which ranks 4th on the EIU career list. Danny Trevor won the men’s 110m hurdles with a time of 14.73. Amina Jackson gave EIU wins in both hurdle events as she won the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:02.92.

Ivy Handley rounded out the first place finishes in running events with a first in the steeplechase. Her winning time was 11:20.68 which ranks 8th on the EIU career list.

EIU’s lone sweep in field events was the pole vault as Annemarie Reid won the women’s event and Eric Gordon won the men’s.  Reid cleared 12’1.50”. Gordon cleared 15’5”.

Jackie Jones won the women’s high jump with a mark of 5’5.75”. Janie Howse won the women’s discus to close out individual event winners for EIU. Howse had a throw of 139’3”.

Kendall Williams won the men’s long jump. Williams covered 22’1”. David Johansson won the men’s javelin to close out the men’s individual event winners for EIU. Johansson’s winning throw was 181’3”.

The final sweep for EIU was in the men’s and women’s 100m relays. EIU’s women won the event with a time of 47.25.  The relay team included Angelica Anyaogu, Walker, Saffa and Nyjah Lane. The men’s 4x100 won with a time of 41.18.  The relay team included Zach Booth, Davion McManis, Jamal Robinson and Ilunga-Matthiesen.

Neoga High School graduate Derek Williamson finished eighth in the 200 for EIU in 22.50 seconds and 13th in the 100 in 10.99. He was a member of the fourth-place 1600 relay team that finished in 3:18.71.