Track Second & Third At Lee Calhoun Invite

MACOMB, Ill. - Eastern Illinois track and field athletes battled through the elements on Saturday as the Panthers competed at the Lee Calhoun Invite hosted by Western Illinois.  EIU, the defending champion on both the men's and women's sides, placed second with its men's team and third with the women.

 

The Panther men scored 150 points to finish 18 points behind Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.  Host Western Illinois was third with 120.50 points.  The EIU men had four individual first place finishers all coming in running events.

 

The EIU women scored 101.50 points to finish third.  SIU-Edwardsville captured the title with 147.50 points just edging the host Westerwinds with 140 points.  EIU women scored three individual titles to go along with a win in the 4x100 relay.

 

Due to cold and windy conditions the pole vault and high jump were contested indoors.  Also some EIU athletes did not compete in selected events based on the inclement weather.

 

Senior sprinter Brenton Emanuel collected two the Panthers men's running titles coming in first in the 100 and 200 meter dash.  Emanuel won the 100 meters at 10.69 while winning the 200 meters at 21.68.  Teammate Brandon Jelks was just behind him placing second in the 100 and third in the 200.

 

Aaron Iaun led a contingent of Panthers to top five finishes in the steeplechase.  Iaun won the event with a time of 9:53.82.  Derek Erickson was second six seconds behind with Matt Dettloff fourth and Dave Sherman fifth.

 

Eric Pedersen posted the final men's win for Eastern Illinois with a time of 15:38.57 in the 5,000 meter run.  Mario Castrejon was second in the event with a time of 15:46.55.

 

On the women's side EIU swept the hurdles for the second straight meet.  Chandra Golden won the 100 meter hurdles for the second straight week with a time of 14.23.  Golden also ran one leg of the Panthers 4x100 relay that finished first with a time of 48.28.  Golden is coming off a week in which she was named the OVC Female Track Athlete of the Week.

 

Samantha Manto won the 400 meter hurdles for a second consecutive week.  Manto crossed at 1:04.95 while freshman teammate Charay Savage was fourth.

 

Kandace Arnold rounded out the Panther women winners. Arnold placed first in the shot put with a winning throw of 43'03".  She was also seventh in the discus and fifth in the hammer.  Arnold's hammer throw of 148'02" moved her into fifth place on the EIU all-time list.

 

Also joining the EIU career top 10 on the women's side was Tarra Grant who placed third in the 100 meter dash.  Her time of 12.13 moved her into 9th place all time.

 

Additional top finishers for the EIU women included Molly Clutter placing fourth in the 200 meter dash, Meghan Carney placing fifth in the 400 meter dash, Caitlin Napoleoni placing fifth in the 5,000 meters and Jenna Uhe with a second place effort in the javelin.

 

Additional top finishers in running events for the EIU men included Clint Coffey with a third place in the 800 meters, Justin Stewart placing fourth in the 800 meters, Mike Embry placing fourth in the 110 hurdles and Preston Smith placing 5th in the 400 hurdles.

 

EIU's men's relay teams finished second in the 4x100 relay and third in the 4x400.

 

Panther men with top finishes in field events included Tyler Arnholt placing fifth in the discus, Ian Winston placing fourth in the triple jump, Mike Embry placing third in the long jump and Luke Craven, Ty Vanderkerkhove and Ian Winston all jumping 6'02" for a tie for fifth in the high jump.

 

Eastern Illinois track teams will head south next weekend to compete in the Vanderbilt Invitational next Friday and Saturday.