Panther Track To Host Big Blue Classic

The Eastern Illinois men’s and women’s track and field teams will be taking part in their only outdoor home meet of the year as they host the Neil Moore Multi’s and the Big Blue Classic which begins Thursday and lasts until Saturday. The Classic is a non-scoring event and will be held at O’Brien Field.

The action kicks off on Thursday with the Neil Moore Multi’s that will run until Friday morning. The Big Blue Classic begins Friday afternoon and runs all day through Saturday. Teams expected to compete in event include: EIU, Chicago State, Illinois State, Indiana State, University of Illinois men, Judson College, Lincoln College, Olivet Nazarene, Rend Lake, UW Milwaukee, and Milikin.

Current OVC Outdoor Female Field Athlete of the Week, Kandace Arnold, highlights the pool of competitors for the Panther women. Arnold hit the NCAA Regional mark in the shot put for the second straight week with a distance of 47’05.75”. Joining her is teammate Shawana Smith, the current OVC Female Track Athlete of the Week. Smith is currently on a hot streak of her own winning the 200m dash and placing second in the 100m dash at Indiana State last week.

This week’s OVC Male Track Athlete of the Week is also a Panther – DeMarcus Brooks. The freshman posted an NCAA Regional qualifying time of 21.34 in the 200m dash already this season. Brenton Pegues and Clint Coffey will look to improve on their first place times from last week’s ISU meet as well. They won the400m and 800m runs, respectively.

After this 3 day event, the Panther’s next event will be the WIU Lee Calhoun.