The Billiken track and field teams competed in two events over the past weekends.  The squad went to Champaign, Illinois for the Illini Classic on January 17.  The men placed third of six teams, and the women placed fifth of nine teams.

The women had nothing short of an impressive meet by having several athletes finish in the top five of their respective events. On the track, Sophomore Elise Moore placed fourth in the 600-meter run with a time of 1:39.47. In the field, Senior Stephanie Ulrich broke her own pole vault record with a mark of 3.60 meters.  SLU took over the shot put competition with senior Hannah Murray and sophomore Jasmine Jefko slotting into third place (11.98 meters) and fourth place (11.64 meters), respectively.

The men showed just as outstanding results with plenty of their members earning spots in the top five.  Junior Kyle Clinkingbeard finished third in the 400-meter run with a time of 50.85.  Freshman Will Moore was right on his heels with a time of 50.98, filing into fourth place.  They found success in relays as well.  SLU took the blue ribbon in the 4×400-meter relay with a time of 3:23.53.  Team members included Clinkingbeard, sophomore Josh Freivogel, junior Nathan Hall and junior Griffin McCurren.

They also earned accolades in the field.  Freshman Connor Stelljes finished fifth in the shot put, throwing 13.88 meters.  Junior DeeJay Owens won the triple jump with a jump of 13.32 meters.

The Billikens continued their success as they traveled to Indiana University to participate in the Gladstein Invitational on January 24.

Stelljes threw a shot put distance of 14.47 meters, breaking the school record by just .01 meters.  Owens edged out his own triple jump mark with a jump of 13.41 meters.  The men’s 4×400-meter relay team broke last year’s record of 3:19.18.  The 4×800-meter relay team of freshmen Wes Schoenthal, Tannock Blair, Kevin Ganahl and junior Albert Marban, beat the record by an entire nine seconds, 7:41.76.

Another impressive performance came from freshman Manuel De Backer in the 5,000 meters with a time of 14:55.90.  He earned first place, which is the fastest time in the A-10 for this season.

Junior Emma Kidd also raised the bar for the women.  She broke the SLU record for the 800-meter race with a time of 2:14.95.

SLU will travel to the University of Minnesota for the Jack Johnson Invitational tomorrow and Saturday, Jan. 28-29.