Track: Team sweeps league awards
Wednesday, January 28 2009 - EIU Mega MeetWally Swenson/Staff Reporter
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So much that the Ohio Valley Conference recognized four Panthers with awards on Monday.
The Panthers were the only league athletes to earn awards this week.
Red-shirt freshman Zye Boey was named the male track athlete of the week, junior Chandra Golden was named the female track athlete of the week, sophomore pole vaulter Joe Noonan was named the field athlete of the week and junior Kandace Arnold was named the female field athlete of the week.
Akers pleased with results
Head coach Tom Akers said the team looked very solid on Saturday afternoon at Lantz Fieldhouse.
Akers said he was very proud of his team's effort.
"It has been a long time since we competed," Akers said. "Our training schedule lately has made it so that their legs are not as fresh as they could be."
Panthers perform well
There were many top performances by Eastern at the Mega Meet.
Golden won the 60-meter hurdles in 8.76 seconds. She also won the 60-meter dash in 7.75 seconds.
Boey won the 200-meter race in 21.74 seconds, while also finishing second in the 60-meter dash in 6.75 seconds.
Junior Jason Springer won the mile race at 4 minutes, 22.63 seconds.
"I was very pleased with the race and the meet in general because I just came off an ankle injury, and I performed better than I expected myself too," Springer said. "As a team, we definitely had some individuals stick out and overall, we all did a superb job."
Sophomore Marcus Williams finished second in the 400-meter dash in 50.17 seconds.
"We are definitely a few weeks away from being completely sharp in our sprints," Akers said. "But that will come with practice and more experience."
Noonan won the pole vault with a mark of 15 feet, 7 inches. On the women's side, Arnold extended her school record in the weight throw to 59 feet, 9.75 inches.
Freshmen stand out
Freshman Tyler Carter, a sprinter/hurdler, said he thought the team did well overall.
"There were quite a few individuals who stepped up," Carter said. "I think they have a good chance for the indoor record. We had a pretty solid outing from the sprinters and hurdlers. As a team, we still have quite a bit of work to do overall before conference."
Red-shirt freshman Caitlin Napoleoni finished third in the 3,000-meter race.
"As a team we performed pretty well," Napoleoni said. "I'm just anxious to play larger schools so that we can rise to test and show how well Eastern can run."
Eastern will host the Illinois Intercollegiate Meet this Saturday at Lantz Fieldhouse.
Wally Swenson can be reached at 581-7944 or at wfswenson@eiu.edu.