Townsend Leads Strong Effort at SIU

RESULTS

17 members of the Hannibal-LaGrange track & field team travelled to Carbondale, IL to compete in the Saluki Open, hosted by Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. With around 20 teams competing, most of whom were NCAA Division 1 programs, the Trojans more than held their own, setting four new school records along the way. Here are some of the highlights.

* Andre Townsend was the meet champion in the 60m hurdles, with a winning time of 7.97, a new personal best and school record. Andre was also first in the preliminary rounds with a time of 8.09. He followed that performance with a 5^th place finish in the 400m dash. His time of 50.45 is also new school record.

* John Anderson made the finals of the 60m hurdles, where he placed 12^th with a personal-best time of 9.11.

* After a small layoff following cross country season and a half marathon, Philiph Tonui returned to action to place 7^th in the 3,000m race, finishing with a solid time of 8:59.12.

* Easton Padden placed 5^th in the pole vault, with a mark of 4.34m (14’2.75”).

* Sara Wilson made her 400m debut and put forth a solid effort, setting a new school record with her time of 1:01.74.

* Holland McCoy set a new personal best in the pole vault. Her vault of 2.84m (9’3.75’) was good for 14^th place.

* Cara Grinde finished 7^th in the pole vault with a mark of 3.14m (10’3.5”).

* The Women’s 4x400m relay team of Mandi Riddle, Caitlin McCoy, Holland McCoy, Cailey Wilkinson placed 13^th and shattered the old school record by nearly 10 seconds with their finishing time of 4:29.81.

COACH COMMENTS: I was really pleased at how the group competed this weekend. With this being the first meet after the Christmas break, we knew that there would be some rust to shake off. However, I thought the team showed great enthusiasm and energy and represented our university very well amidst the likes of some very strong upper-level programs. I think that you will see rapid improvement over the next couple of meets and it will be exciting to see.

Next Saturday the entire team will travel to Jacksonville, IL to compete in the Snowbird Invitational, hosted by Illinois College.

NEW SCHOOL RECORDS
Women’s 4x400m relay: Mandi Riddle, Caitlin McCoy, Holland McCoy, Cailey Wilkinson (4:29.81)

Women’s 400m: Sarah Wilson (1:01.74)

Men’s 60m Hurdles: Andre Townsend (7.97)

Men’s 400m: Andre Townsend (50.45)