Anerino and Hardin Summit League Champions

TOLEDO, Ohio - The Western Illinois track and field team recorded two individual championship finishes as senior Eric Anerino and junior Lawrence Hardin won their respective events on day two of the Summit League Championships, Friday.

Anerino became the Fighting Leathernecks' first individual champion of the Summit League Championships as he won the steeplechase with a career-low time of 9:22.58, which also ranks as the fifth-fastest time in Western Illinois history. Senior Jeremy Whitaker finished 10th in the steeplechase with a season-best time of 9:55.93.

Hardin recorded Western's only other individual championship title as he took the Gold home in the high jump. Hardin reached a season-high mark of 6-08.75 (2.05m).

Sophomore Jason Crisman took the Silver medal home in the shot put with a distance of 52-07.25 (16.03m). Sophomores Brayden Sherrick, Tyler Lippert and Paul Hames followed in the shot put in ninth, 10th and 11th place, respectively.

Jessica Ortega landed fifth place in the shot put with a season-high mark of 43-01.00 (13.13m). Junior Tyra Woodruff improved her mark in the pole vault with a season-best 10-11.75 (3.35m) to place seventh overall. Katelyn Moore added in another top-10 finish as she took 10th place in the long jump with a season-best distance of 17-00.50 (5.19m).

Setting a leading example in the preliminary rounds, Brian Pinta dominated the 400-meter hurdles as he took first place with a time of 53.05. Freshman Jeff Liles followed senior Pinta's example as he took fifth place with a time of 54.71. Freshman Matt Leal also qualified for the finals in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 54.75 in sixth place.

Taking third place in the preliminaries of the 100-meter dash, senior Ray Richardson had a time of 11.01 to advance to the finals in the final day. Senior Paul Anderson just missed the cut as he took ninth place in the same event with a time of 11.09. Senior Kyle Austin came in tenth place, just behind Anderson, with a time of 11.13.

Richardson also went on to qualify for the finals in the 200-meter dash as he took second place with a time of 21.81. Oral Roberts' Marvin Bonde won the preliminary with a time of 21.65. Austin just missed the qualifying cut as he took ninth place with a time of 22.61.

Jeremy Streater had a season-low time of 49.88 in the 400-meter run to land 10th place, but fell short of the qualifying cutoff for finals as 49.31 was the time of the final qualifier.

Mitch Thompson battled for a spot in the finals, Sunday, as he took sixth place in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.17.

“We had a pretty solid day today,” Western Illinois interim head coach Matt Morris said. “It was up and down, but had some good things happen in the end. We definitely have a chance to score some points tomorrow as many of our athletes have qualified for the finals.”

Western's women's squad sits in seventh place after day two, while the men's side is in fourth place. Saturday is the third, and final day, of the Summit League Championships. It will open with the discus throw at 10 a.m. and the running event finals will begin at 12:20 p.m. with the women's 4x100-meter relay.

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