Panthers Advance Three To Regional Finals

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Eastern Illinois men's and women's track and field teams assured themselves of scoring points at this year's NCAA Mideast Regional advancing three individuals or teams to Saturday event finals in Louisville.

Freshman Zye Boey continued his excellent opening season as he advanced in both the 100m and 200m dashes. Boey was third in the 100m dash with a prelim time of 10.42. The top three finishers in the prelims were all freshmen with Marcus Rowland of Auburn and D'Angelo Cherry of Mississippi State crossing just ahead. Boey was 8th in the 200m dash at 20.91.

The Panther women's 4x100 relay also advanced to Saturday's finals with an 8th place finish on Friday. The quartet of Violet Nwordu, Chandra Golden, Tarra Grant and Shawana Smith covered the track in a time of 45.78. EIU is now assured of scoring a minimum of one point at the Regional on the women's side.

Golden and Smith also competed as individuals on Friday but did not finish in the top eight in their events. Golden was 14th in the 100m hurdles at 13.79 and withdrew from the 400m hurdles. Smith was 21st in the 100m and 11th in the 200m at 24.18.

On the men's side the Panthers 4x100 relay team placed 13th on Friday. Individual performers on Friday included Ian Winston placing 15th in the high jump at 6'8.75". Kris Gehrke was 11th in the 400m hurdles at 52.57.

EIU will have several individuals and two relay teams in action on Saturday. The men and women will compete in the 4x400 as teams while Winston will compete in the triple jump. Senior Brad Butler will run the 10,000m with Joe Noonan competing in the pole vault. Tyler Arnholt rounds out the men's competitors with the discus. The EIU women will be represented by Kandace Arnold in the shot put and Nicole Walcott in the high jump.