NINE RED DEVILS PR AT IWU BOB KECK INVITE
BLOOMINGTON, IL. – The Eureka distance team was back in action on Saturday, rising to the challenge of a highly talented field to set nine personal records in the Illinois Wesleyan Bob Keck Invite.
Coach Robinson was thrilled with the team's performance: "We had a strong showing in a meet which featured several nationally ranked DIII student-athletes. The atmosphere was high energy all day and we were able to feed off it and the strong competition. As a combined women's and men's team, we came home with 10 season bests."
Red Devil sophomore Jaden Randall (Secor, Ill./Roanoke-Benson) took on the shortest distance of the day for Eureka's team, finishing her 400 meter dash in 1:15.53 to place 21st in a field of 22, edging out teammate Isabella Carbajal (Chicago, Ill./Shepard) by 1.06 seconds, who recorded a season best with nearly a 2 second improvement.
Rachel Fisher (Metamora, Ill./Metamora) finished 15th in a field of 45 in the women's 800 meter run with a time of 2:30.05. This was a season best for Fisher, who broke her previous best by over 2 seconds. Emily Baker (Washington, Ill./Washington) finished 42nd in the same event with a time of 2:54:29, a personal record with nearly 8 seconds of improvement. Baker would later finish 42nd in the women's mile as well with a time of 6:17.84.
Sarah Kimbro (Peoria, Ill./Metamora) and Odessa Grove (Lewistown, Ill./Lewistown) crossed the line 6 seconds apart from each other in 49th and 50th place of the women's mile. Grove's time of 7:38.63 was a PR. Kimbro finished in 7:32.60 and Grove in 7:38.63. In the same event (the women's mile), Eureka junior Karissa Heffernan (Metamora, Ill./Metamora/Lewis) finished 16th out of the 50 runners, crossing the line in 5:28.02. Heffernan later ran the 3000 meter run in 11:20.64, which earned her 9th in a field of 23.
Heffernan's mile time of 5:28.02 is a personal record and set a new school record, breaking the record she set last season. This is also the fastest women's mile time in the conference so far this season.
Jaden Randall, Isabella Carbajal, Emily Baker, and Rachel Fisher represented the Red Devils in the women's 4x400 meter relay, finishing 14th in 4:56.91, a season best with over 16 seconds of improvement.
On the men's side, Khalil Alleyne (Diego Martin, Trinidad/Fatima College) finished his 400 meter dash in 56.34 to take 29th place in a field of 35. Teammate Jose Amador (Kempton, Ill./Tri-Point) came in 34th, crossing the finish line in 58.42. Both Alleyne and Amador set personal records during the event.
Bailey Webster (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria) and Michael Beaumont (Greenup, Ill./Cumberland) both added to the list of Red Devils setting personal records. Webster and Beaumont represented the maroon and gold in the men's 800 meter run. Webster finished 29th out of 35 with a time of 2:12.15, coming in ahead of freshmen Beaumont, who finished in 2:27.77. Webster was back to it for the men's mile run, where he posted another PR with over 3 seconds of improvement, finishing in 4:50.02. This time earned him 22nd out of 36. Amador also competed in the 400 meter dash and finished his mile in 5:15.43, while freshman Tucker Williamson (Monticello, Ill./Monticello) set a PR, crossing in 5:36.67.
Tony DeLira (Chicago, Ill./Alcott/Lincoln) ran the longest distance for the men's team, competing in the 5000 meter run. DeLira finished 10th of 11, crossing at 17:08.12, nearly 22 seconds ahead of Millikin's Derek Dayton. DeLira's new season best was a remarkable improvement of 29 seconds.
Tucker Williamson, Jose Amador, Bailey Webster, and Khalil Alleyne made up Eureka's 4x400m relay team. The team finished 17th in 4:01.74, which set a new team PR by nearly 4 seconds.
The Red Devils will return to Bloomington next weekend to participate in the Illinois Wesleyan Titan Open on Feb. 10th at 10 a.m.