Personal Records Continue To Fall At ISU

AMES, Iowa - Competing against some of the top schools in the nation Eastern Illinois track and field continued to post several personal bests as the Panthers had a strong showing on the final day of the Iowa State Track and Field Classic.

The best women's finish of the second day came in the non-seeded 800 meter run as Megan Gingerich placed 5th with a time of 2:13.50 which landed her with the second best mark in EIU school history.  Gingerich would also return to run the third leg on the women's 4x400 relay team that placed 13th overall with a time of 3:50.94.  That mark ranked fourth in EIU school history with Andrea Fabiano, Caitlin Finnegan, Gingerich and Bridget Sanchez comprising the team.

Sanchez would also post a personal best running in the non-seeded 400 meter race finishing in 9th place.  Her time of 57.72 is third best in school history.

The 400 meter dash would also see a pair of men's runners crack the EIU career top ten in the seeded event.  Darren Patterson placed 8th in the 400m while teammate Marcus Williams was 13th.  Patterson's mark of 48.00 is 4th best at EIU while Williams time of 48.23 landed him 8th on the Panther charts.

Patterson and Williams would also run two legs of the men's 4x400 relay as EIU finished in fifth place with a time of 3:12.80.  Sean Wiggan and Wes Sheldon also ran legs of the relay as the time was just 0.13 tenths of a second slower than the mark set by the foursome last week at Notre Dame which ranks 4th on the EIU list.  Sheldon would also place 28th in the seeded 800m run.

Lamarr Pottinger and Chandra Golden both posted top 15 finishes in the 60m hurdles as both had solid qualifying runs.  Pottinger was 15th with a finals time of 8.23 while Golden was 13th with a finals time of 8.93 after qualifying at 7th with a time of 8.77.

Ian Winston led the Panthers in day two field events was he tied for fifth in the high jump with a leap of 6'9".  Dorrian White placed 15th in the non-seeded pole vault.

EIU returns to action next Friday evening when they host the Friday Night Special at Lantz Fieldhouse.  The meet serves as a primer for the OVC Indoor Championships to be held on Feb. 26-27 at Tennessee State in Nashville.