Track and Field Opens Outdoor Season in Frigid Fashion

The Leathernecks collected 13 'Top 5' finishes on Saturday (March 28) at the Bill Cornell Spring Classic in Carbondale, Ill.

Full Results HERE

CARBONDALE, Ill. - With temperatures hovering just above freezing, Western Illinois track and field captured 13 'Top 5' finishes and four new personal records on Saturday (March 28) at the Bill Cornell Spring Classic hosted by Southern Illinois University. The meet marks WIU's start to the outdoor season.

"I feel like today was a 50:50 opener. We had some bright spots, but we had some low spots as well," said head coach Mike Stevenson. "The bad news is that we came out rather dinged up with some minor injury issues to several athletes. Hopefully we can get everyone healthy over the course of the next week and be better at Eastern Illinois."

Despite the cold weather and nagging injuries, Aaliyah White came out of the gate strong, snagging a first-place finish in the 400-hurdles to lead the Purple and Gold women. Sierra Woods (100-meter dash) and Alyssa Johnson (400-meters) also impressed, setting new personal-bests in their individual events, and each finishing in fifth. Madison Lefler competed in the outdoor 5,000-meters for the first time in her career and finished fourth. Breanna Moore turned in fourth-place finish in the 400-hurldes.

For the men, Josh Thomas turned in a second-place finish in the 110-hurdles while crossing third in the 400-hurdles. Both times shattered the sophomore's personal records by more than 2 seconds in each event. Max Ford and Danny Daniels made their debuts in the javelin throw, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. Tyler Younkin led the sprinter core with a fourth-place finish in the 200-meter dash.

Three 'Top 5' finishes for Leatherneck relay teams round out the day for Western.

Coach Stevenson and his teams head to Eastern Illinois next weekend (April 2-4) for the EIU Big Blue Classic.