Finnegan, Winston Win OVC Track Honors

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – With just two weeks until the 2010 Ohio Valley Conference outdoor track and field championships Eastern Illinois has added two more weekly track honors to this season’s long list asCaitlin Finnegan and Ian Winston both won OVC Track and Field Athlete of the Week honors. 

Finnegan, a junior from Homer Glen, Ill., won the 400m hurdles at the Vanderbilt Invite with a time of 1:01.90 as she finished off a productive weekend in the Music City. Her time landed her second on the EIU career list and is currently second on the OVC top performances list this year by just .04 seconds. Finnegan was also third in the 100m hurdles at 14.78 and ran one leg of the 4x100 relay that placed first with a time of 3:49.36. 

Winston returned for his first performance of the outdoor season as the senior from Champaign, Ill., competed at the SIUE Gateway Classic. Winston cleared 7’0.25” in the high jump to set the school record and place himself first in the OVC. He became the first EIU outdoor athlete to clear the 7’ barrier and he currently ranks 21st nationally in the high jump. 

EIU will again split its competition squad this weekend as 23 athletes have been invited to compete in the Drake Relays while the remaining members will travel to the Illinois State meet on Saturday. This is a change from the originally scheduled competition on Saturday at Butler. 

So far this outdoor season EIU has previously won five OVC athlete of the week honors with Darren Patterson and Sean Wiggan each winning on the men’s side. Megan Gingerich, Shawana Smith andKandace Arnold have all won on the women’s side with Arnold claiming the honor twice.