Indoor Track Opens Season This Friday

The Eastern Illinois men's and women's indoor track & field teams will open their 2016-17 season with their annual pre-holiday Early Bird Meet hosted inside the Lantz Fieldhouse. The EIU Earl Bird Meet is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start time this Friday.

RETURNING ALL-CONFERENCE HONOREES
The EIU men's and women's indoor track & field teams will look to build off of their strong performances last season as the men's team claimed the Ohio Valley Conference Indoor title with the EIU women placing second at the event. The Panthers return a combined nine All-OVC honorees from last season's roster.

The EIU men return five members – Riley Kittridge (shotput), Riley McInerney (mile run), Paxson Menard (5000-meter run), John Piper (55-meter hurdles), and Jamal Robinson (200-meter dash) – who all earned first-team honors at the OVC Indoor Championships last season.

The EIU women return Bryn Buckwalter (shotput) and Haleigh Knapp (high jump) as first-team selections. Dhiaa Dean and Jocelyne Mendoza earned second-team honors as part of the women's distance medley relay.

EIU's director of track & field, Tom Akers, was named as the Men's OVC Coach of the Year for the 2015-16 indoor track & field season.

ABOUT THE EARLY BIRD MEET
The EIU Early Bird Meet will begin with the field events at 2 p.m. The running events will begin at approximately 4 p.m.

Scheduled to compete on Friday in the EIU Early Bird Meet are Eastern Illinois, Western Illinois, Illinois State, and Indiana State.

A LOOK AHEAD
Following the EIU Early Bird, the Eastern Illinois men's and women's indoor track & field teams will return to action on Jan. 13-14 at the Illinois Winter Invite.