Three Leathernecks win individual titles at Summit League Championships

FARGO, N.D. – The Western Illinois track and field team had three athletes win individual championships at The Summit League Indoor Track and Field Championships, Monday, March 1.

"I was really happy on both the men's and women's sides," said interim head coach Matt Morris. "We started a little rough yesterday, but we picked up steam and had a really solid second day.

"We're a really young team and I think we performed well beyond our expectations. Our athletes really stepped up and performed really well today."

Dana LaRue capped off a successful indoor season by winning the women's shot put and taking second in the weight throw. LaRue set a new personal record with a throw of 14.83 meters in the shot put and finished second with a mark of 17.21 meters in the weight throw.

ChrisDell Harris finished her senior season by winning her third straight title in the 60-meter dash. A day after setting a new track record at the Bison Sports Arena, Harris set another track record with a time of 7.56 seconds, just one-one hundreth of a second behind her Summit League record of 7.55 seconds set during the 2008 season. The Wichita, Kan., native also finished third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.26 seconds.

Jason Crisman, battling a back injury, took first place in the men's shot put and set a new personal record with a mark of 15.98 meters. Crisman was one of three Fighting Leathernecks to finish in the top six of the shot put competition. Brayden Sherrick finished fifth with a throw of 15.37 meters while Paul Hames finished sixth with a mark of 15.01 meters.

"Our throwers performed really well the entire time," Morris said. "They were a really strong group for us all weekend and all season, we're really happy with them.

"Jason came in to the day with a pretty sore back but he fought through it and was able to come away with a win. The rest of our throwers like Dana and Jessica Ortega also had really solid days for us."

Western also finished with strong performances in other events. Lawrence Hardin finished third in the high jump with a mark of 2.04 meters while Brian Pinta took third in the triple jump (14.66 meters).

"Brian's performance in the triple jump was incredible," Morris said. "It was actually the first time all season he's competed in the event but he went out there an really showed us what he's capable of."

On the track, Ray Richardson (5th - 7.10 seconds) and Nykese Griffin (8th - 7.26 seconds) each finished in the top eight of the men's 60-meter dash while Richardson (5th - 22.50 seconds) and Kyle Austin (6th - 22.96 seconds) both finished in the top six of the 200-meters. Tyler Buckles finished ninth in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 15:23.21 minutes.

On the women's side, Katie Jay took fifth in the 800-meters with a time of 2:19.10 minutes. As a team, Western's women finished fifth out of eight teams with 52 points while the men finished seventh out of seven teams with 51.5 total points.

"I think this sets us up well for the outdoor season," Morris said. "We're really looking forward to getting back outside because the outdoor season is really our strength. We've had a solid recruiting class and we have a lot of potential, especially on the throw side. We had a lot of kids perform well all across the board, our athletes showed a lot of toughness and really competed hard."

Western's final event of the season will come at the Last Chance Qualifier at Iowa State this coming weekend as several Leathernecks will attempt to qualify for the NCAA Championships which take place in Fayetteville, Ark. on March 12 and 13.

"We had a lot of great team chemistry. One of the strongest thing about this team all year has been how they've come together and supported each other every step of the way."

Final Standings

MEN

1. North Dakota State, 171.5

2. Oral Roberts, 113

3. Southern Utah, 105.5

4. UMKC, 80

5. Oakland, 75

6. South Dakota State, 64.5

7. Western Illinois, 51.5

WOMEN

1. North Dakota State, 198.5

2. Oral Roberts, 131