CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois track and field picked up four individual wins and one relay title as the first day of competition at the EIU Big Blue Classic finished at O’Brien Stadium.  The final day will start at 10:30 a.m. with the shot put.  Running events begin at 11 a.m.

 

The EIU women picked up one win in field events and another in running events while all three Panther men titles came in running events.

 

Rachel Galligan won the first event of the day with a victory in the women’s javelin.  Galligan had a throw of 131’06” to win the event by three feet over open competitor Lisa Barrett.  Teammate Jenna Uhe placed fifth in the javelin at 120’.

 

The women’s running title was in the 400 meter hurdles where Samantha Manto edged out fellow EIU hurdler Chandra Golden by 0.26 seconds.  Manto won with a time of 1:03.49 which ranks eighth best on the EIU career list.  Golden crossed at 1:03.75.

 

One of the men’s titles also came in the 400 meter hurdles as Kris Gehrke won by 0.21 seconds over Andrew Geller of Indiana State.  Gehrke crossed at 54.06 while Geller was just behind at 54.27. Christian Nash of Vincennes was also in striking distance with a time third place mark of 54.67.

 

Freshman Brad LaRocque picked up a win in the men’s 10,000 meters winning the event with a time of 31:47.25.  He posted a 22-second margin over Eric Schulz of Indiana State.  EIU’s Ryan Hoklas crossed in third place at 32:15.77. 

 

The final EIU of the day was in the men’s 4x800 relay.  The combination of Justin Helpingstine, David Holm, Wes Sheldon and Chris Wesson posted a time of 7:39.79.  Indiana State was second at 7:44.07 followed by EIU’s second entry at 7:52.60.

 

Additional top performances for the Panthers on day one included Luke Craven placing third in the javelin.  His throw of 161’03” was a personal best. On the women’s side Kandace Arnold placed sixth in the hammer despite a throw of 145’05” which ranks 8th all time on the EIU charts.

 

Earlier in the day EIU also hosted the second day of the Neil Moore multi’s.  Stephen Swinford of Indiana State won the men’s decathlon with 5,727 points.  Kevin Kirchner of Greenville was second with 5,348 points. Emily Budde of Wisconsin-Milwaukee won the women’s heptathlon with 3,980 points.  Morgan Shaefer of Illinois State was second with 3,626 points.