Red Devils Make Gains at Illinois College

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Eureka cross country and distance continued to make gains on the track at the Illinois College True Blue Invite on Friday.

The Red Devils scored 17 points and placed seventh out of 11 teams on the women's side and tallied three points and took ninth on the men's side.

Sarah Kimbro (Peoria, Ill./Metamora) put the Red Devils on the board with a third-place finish in the 3,000-meter Steeplechase. In only her fourth time competing in the event, the junior recorded a personal record of 15:18.02, cutting 1:12 off her previous best.

Karissa Heffernan (Metamora, Ill./Metamora/Lewis) and Rachel Fisher (Metamora, Ill./Metamora) both came away with fifth-place finishes.

First, Heffernan came in fifth in the 1,500-meter run in 5:07.27, while teammate Odessa Grove (Lewistown, Ill./Lewistown) set a new PR and took 25th in 7:12.93.

Later, Fisher managed to place fifth in the 800 in 2:27.7 despite getting tripped up three times early on. Heffernan followed, taking 12th in 2:33.59.

Heffernan, Jaden Randall (Secor, Ill./Roanoke-Benson), Kimbro and Fisher returned for the Red Devils' first relay race of the year. Eureka placed eighth in 4:50.11 following a blazing anchor leg by Fisher in 1:02.15.

Randall made her outdoor debut in the 400, setting a collegiate personal record and coming in 14th in 1:12.16. Alyssa Bryant (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods) cut three seconds off her previous best 400, taking 17th in 1:18.31.

On the men's side, Jose Amador (Kempton, Ill./Tri-Point) made his 3,000-meter Steeplechase debut and put three points on the board with a sixth-place finish in 11:40.95.

Later, the freshman returned as the second leg of the Red Devils' 4x400 relay team. Brayton Strawkas (Buffalo, Ill./Tri-City), Hayden Skaggs (Mansfield, Texas/Mansfield) and Kahlil Alleyne (Diego Martin, Trinidad/Fatima College/Lincoln) came in ninth in 4:13.55 after Alleyne ran a strong anchor in 58.89. It was the first that Eureka has competed in the 4x400 on women's and men's side at the same meet for the first time since the program relaunched.

Bailey Webster (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria) competed in the 5,000-meter run for the first time, running a strong and consistent race and finishing 11th with a personal record of 17:01.36.

The 400-meter dash featured a trio of Red Devils, all of whom recorded PRs. Alleyne paced the team with a 20th-place finish in 55.44, Strawkas made his track debut and established a PR of 1:04.73 to take 25th, and Skaggs came in 26th with a personal-best time of 1:08.61, trimming two seconds off his previous best.

Skaggs also cut 12 off his PR in the 1,500 with a 38th-place finish in 6:06.88, while Amador returned to run the 800. After a comfortable first lap, he turned it on for the final 400, picking off several runners en route to a 28th-place finish in a personal-best time of 2:14.79.

"Today was a lot of fun," EC head coach Chris Robinson said after the meet. "Coach Ian and I really enjoyed seeing the team compete in several events throughout the meet culminating with the two 4x4 teams. "Everyone put in really strong performances today. We don't always end up with the times we want, but are able to learn from each race. We look forward to building on this, and continuing to build from there."

The Red Devils will next compete at Greenville on Saturday, April 15 in the last meet of the year before the SLIAC Outdoor Championships.