Team impresses Eastern track legend

Chad Aubin, a senior hurdler, receives the baton from Reid Basting, a junior sprinter, during the men's 4x800 meter relay Saturday during the EIU Mega Meet in the Lantz Field house. Eastern took first place in the men's 4x800 meter relay and second place at the meet. (Danny Damiani | The Daily Eastern News)

With Eastern track and field legend John Craft in attendance, the Panthers displayed another impressive performance at Saturday's EIU Mega Meet held in Lantz Field house. Craft was honored in a special ceremony during the event with a jersey retired in his name. Craft was a triple jumper for the Panthers during the 1960s, and later went on to compete in the 1972 Munich Olympics before returning to Eastern as an assistant coach.

Red-shirt junior Zye Boey competed in the 60-meter dash, where he currently holds the fastest time in the Ohio Valley Conference, as one of the top 25 fastest times in the nation, with a mark of 6.75. Boey did not surpass his top time, but still managed to win the men's 60-meter dash competition with a time of 6.76.

The Panther men were victorious in all relay events at the EIU Mega Meet, coming in first place in the 4x400-meter relay, 4x800-meter relay and the distance medley relay.

The team of senior Darren Patterson, freshman Cody Boarman, red-shirt senior Pat Tortorici and senior Preston Smith won the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:20.42. The group beat out teams from Memphis, Chicago State and the Illinois XC and Track Club.

The distance medley team of red-shirt senior Wes Sheldon, senior Chad Aubin, junior Reid Basting, and freshman Ryan Ballard captured first place with a time of 10:36.60. The same team also won the 4x800-meter relay with a time of 7:56.90.

For the women, junior Emily Quinones won the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.19. Red-shirt junior Megan Gingerich also won the 600-meter run with a time of 1:34.96, while sophomore Erika Ramos finished first in the one mile run with a time of 5:09.96. Junior Olivia Klaus took first place in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10:26.75.

Ramos said she thought the team performed well, but wished there would have been some tougher competition.

"The meet wasn't as big of a competition as we would have liked it to be, but we have just got to pull through," Ramos said.

Ramos said she was glad all the team members got a chance to race, and that this meet will prepare the team for the big competition that comes their way the rest of the season.

In the women's 4x400-meter relay, the team of junior Emily Quinones, freshman Klaudia Susul, junior Bridget Sanchez and red-shirt junior Megan Gingerich took first place with a time of 4:07.14.

Susul said overall she thought the team did pretty well, as many team members were also battling minor injuries at the time.

In the field events, the men had one first place finisher, red-shirt freshman Mick Viken, who cleared 17 feet to win the pole-vaulting event. This was the second first place performance this year for Viken, who took first place at the EIU Early Bird last December.

Viken said he thought he performed pretty well, saying that he had been trying all year to get over the 17-foot mark. Viken mentioned that one of his goals is to break the school record, which currently stands at 17' 1", set by Kyle Ellis in 2007. Viken currently sits in second place on the school record list.

The Panthers next meet will be the Illinois Intercollegiate, held at the University of Illinois on Jan. 28.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-6944 

or dcrenzetti@eiu.edu.