Track Heads To Lee Calhoun Classic

CHARLESTON , Ill. – Eastern Illinois outdoor track and field returns to action this weekend as the Panthers send a full men’s and women’s squad to compete in the 19th annual Lee Calhoun Classic hosted by Western Illinois .

 

The one-day event will kick off at 9 a.m. on Saturday with the men’s and women’s javelin.  Running events are slated to begin at 11:30 a.m. with the steeplechase.

 

EIU Women’s Preview

 

Eastern Illinois women are coming off a solid weekend in which four individuals won events at last weekend’s Big Blue Classic.  Chandra Golden won the 100 meter hurdles and placed second in the 400 meter hurdles to win OVC Female Track Athlete of the Week honors.  Golden also ran one leg of the 4x100 relay which finished with a time of 46.56, the third fastest mark in EIU history.

 

Junior Nicole Walcott also moved up the record book winning the high jump at 5’06”.  She broke a three way tie for first by virtue of hitting the mark on the fewest number of attempts.  The 5’06” mark moved her up to 8th on EIU’s career list.

 

Junior Samantha Manto won the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1:03.49.  That mark was 8th best on the EIU career list.  Junior Rachel Galligan also posted a first place finish with a throw of 131’06” in the javelin.

 

Additional career top ten performances were posted by Charay Savage in the 100 hurdles (14.55, ranks 5th) and Kandace Arnold in the hammer (145’05”, ranks 8th).

 

EIU Men’s Preview

 

The Panther men also had a solid showing at last week’s EIU Big Blue Classic walking away with four individual titles and one relay championship in the 4x800 meter relay.

 

Kris Gehrke had the first Panther win of the Big Blue Classic winning the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 54.06.  Senior Mike Embry joined Gehrke with a hurdle championship as he won the 110 meter hurdles on Saturday with a time of 14.93.

 

Freshman Joe Noonan picked up his second straight win in the pole vault as he cleared 16’00.75” for the victory.  That mark moved Noonan into sixth place on the EIU career list.  Noonan was named the OVC Male Track Athlete of the Week two weeks ago following his win at the EIU Invitational.

 

The final EIU individual title was also captured by a freshman as Brad LaRocque pulled away in the 10,000 meters to win by 22 seconds.  His winning time was 31:47.25.  He was followed in third place by fellow freshman Ryan Hoklas at 32:15.77.

 

Other top performances for the EIU men were turned in by David Holm who was the top collegiate finisher in the 1,500 meter run.  Holm posted a time of 3:51.67 while Jeremy Doherty won the event as an open competitor at 3:50.48.  Sophomore Tyler Arnholt picked up a second place finish in the discus with a throw of 155’02”.  The winning throw by Nick Chumbley of Illinois State was only 155’09”.

 

Up Next

 

Following this Saturday’s meet at the Lee Calhoun Classic, EIU will return to action on April 18-19 at the Vanderbilt Invitational in Nashville .