Weekly honors build confidence for track and field teams

Bob Shaughnessy/Staff Report

The Eastern track and field teams will look to keep their streak of consecutive Ohio Valley Conference honors going as they travel to Memphis, Tenn., today. The Panthers have received individual OVC awards for the previous four weeks.

The streak started on March 24, when three Panthers received the award.

Senior Brenton Pegues won the 400-meter dash in 48.20 seconds and ran the first leg of the 1,600-meter relay that won first in 3 minutes, 15.17 seconds. Sophomore Caitlin Napoleoni placed fourth in 11:24.84 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and junior Kandace Arnold took second in the shot put with a throw of 47 feet, 11.75 inches, while placing fifth in the discus at 144'03.00".

The following week the three Panthers snatched awards again.

Arnold won her second award by winning the discus, shot put and hammer throw. Freshman DeMarcus Brooks won the 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. Senior Shawana Smith also won the 200-meter dash and placed second in the 100-meter dash.

Red-shirt freshman Zye Boey won the 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash and also was a member of the winning 1,600-meter relay team. Junior Violet Nwordu won the 100-meter dash, and junior Ian Winston finished third in the high jump.

Last week, Brooks swept the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash to complete the four-week trend.

The victories by Brooks gave the men a three-week sweep of the 100- and 200-meter dashes.

Brooks was a member of the 400-meter relay team that posted a season best 41.30 seconds to win.

"When we ran that relay we did not have Boey, so we should be faster (at the next meet)" Brooks said.

This weekend, the Panthers will have their hands full as they see conference rivals Jacksonville State and Murray State for the first time.

"We can't control what all the other schools do, (so) we can only control what we do," said Eastern head coach Tom Akers. "Hopefully, we will have some good weather and some good performances, and if we get another weekly honor that would be great, but if not, it is not the end of the world."

Other teams competing include Memphis, Middle Tennessee State, Western Illinois, Rhodes College, Lindenwood, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, Harding, Hendrix, Lipscomb, Rust College, Christian Brothers and Belmont.

Eastern can make another statement by doing well on its way this weekend to the OVC Championships.

These awards help build confidence along the way, and possibly toward a conference title.


Bob Shaughnessy can be reached at 581-7944 or at rrshaughnessy@eiu.edu.