Saint Louis University track and field teams hit the ground running with a pair of meets to start the new year and a new season. The Billiken’s indoor season began Dec. 6, with the Saluki Fast Start Meet at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. There, the Billikens performed admirably, winning six events and setting two school records.
And last Saturday, Jan. 17, they competed in their first meet of 2015 at the Illini Classic in the University of Illinois Armory. Several Billikens turned in their best-ever performances, with eight total personal records (PRs).
In Carbondale, both men and women topped the podium in three mid- to long-distance runs. For the men, sophomore Kyle Clinkingbeard won the 400 meters with a time of 51.37, junior Albert Marban took the 800 with 1:58.84, and junior Jeff Orf clocked in at 4:26.09 to place first in the mile.
The women had three winners as well: sophomore Hannah Rohde in the 400 meter with a time of 58.03, freshman Alex Groene in the 800 with 2:22.27, and senior Kayla Snyder in the mile with 5:13.39.
In addition, two jumpers set school records. Freshman Shon Layson set a new SLU record for the men’s long jump, at 6.75 meters, and junior Stephanie Uhrich broke the indoor record for the women’s pole vault at 3.37 meters.
“It was good to get the first meet under our belts,” SLU head coach Jon Bell said of the competition. “I felt we had some nice performances out of our distance runners and our jumpers. The long sprints had a nice day as well. We have a very young team so each meet we are just trying to get better and see improvement.”
Improvement came for several athletes in their first meet following the Winter break. Eight different athletes had PRs in their respective events at the Illini Classic.
For the women, freshmen Courtney Link and Julie Yaeger registered PRs of 10:20.44 and 11:00.77, respectively, in the 3000-meter run, while senior Jessica Hoefert took third in the same event, with a time of 10:10.50.
Sophomores Emma Kidd and Jackie Bynes also turned in PRs in the 600 meters, clocking in at 1:38.27 and 1:43.35, respectively. Freshman Jasmine Jefko recorded a throw of 11.35 meters in the shot put event, another PR.
On the men’s side, junior Robert Tosie and senior Todd Johnson each set PRs; Tosie threw 13.77 meters in the shot put and Johnson recorded 14.62 in the weight throw. Clinkingbeard took seventh in the 400-meter dash with a PR of 51.03, with sophomore Griffin McCurren finishing right behind him in eighth at 51.76.
The Billikens will have two meets this upcoming weekend. The Gladstein Invitational at Indiana University begins Friday, Jan. 23, and the John Craft Invite at Eastern Illinois University will take place on Saturday, Jan. 24.
In addition to these, the Billikens have two additional meets to prepare for the Atlantic -10 Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, which will take place at Kingston, R.I., on Feb. 21-22. The NCAA Championships are Mar. 13-14 in Fayetteville, Ark.
