Leathernecks Crown 6 Champions on Final Day of Lee Calhoun Invitational

Western's standout day included more than 25 'Top 10' finishes and over 20 personal records set.

FINAL RESULTS

MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois track and field closed the 26th annual Lee Calhoun invite in style with six first-place finishes on Saturday (April 11) at Hanson Field. On the day, WIU's men and women combined for more than 25 'Top 10' finishes and set over 20 personal records.

"I think the team definitely took a step in the right direction. We had a lot of good stuff. Across the board I can't pinpoint anything that I was really dissapointed in," said head coach Mike Stevenson. "We had a ton of personal bests and we had some kids that maybe didn't have their best day ever, but were much improved over the past few meets. Part of that is attributed to the weather, the kids are rounding into form a little bit, and being on the home track makes a big difference too."

Aaliyah White stole the show for the women. She started the day with a second-place finish as a member of the 4x100 meter relay team before taking first in the women's 400 meter dash in a time of 56.79 seconds, ranking in her ninth on Western's all-time list. White continued her Saturday with a fourth-place finish in the 200 meter dash, and capped things off by anchoring a thrilling 4x400 meter relay that ended with a Leatherneck victory.

However, White was not the only woman to shine for the Purple and Gold. Jasmine Brown swept the long jump and triple jump, improving her personal best in the triple jump to over 41 feet which ranks second in Western history. In addition to the women's 4x400 team taking the relay crown, Darcy Arendt added a first-place finish in the javelin toss, her first time competing collegiately in the event.

On the men's side Xavier Levy was crowned champion in the 200 meter dash, missing his personal record of 21.52 by just fractions of a second. Levy also added a 'Top 10' finish in the 100 meter dash. Justin Kilpatrick put on his own show, finishing second in the 100 meter dash in personal-record time, 10.64 seconds. He also added a third-place finish in the 200, crossing just one tenth of a second behind Levy. Tyler Younkin added a pair of 'Top 10's' in the 100 and 200 meter races as well.

The Leatherneck men's distance runners also had their time to shine as Ryan Wojdyla took second in the 5000 meter run with Grant Kaiser finishing fifth. Mark Holt snagged a second-place honor in the 3000 meter steeplechase.

"The first thing we talked about in our meeting after the competition was how do we, as a team, transition from the psychological impact of having home-track advantage to when we go to somewhere else," said coach Stevenson. "It's still the same legs, it's still the same arms, it's still the same everything. It's the same kids, so it is obviously in there, we just have to make sure they are mentally prepared a little bit better. Hopefully they take steps in that direction next week. Part of it will come in practice as well. They need to have the same mindset Monday through Friday so that Saturday's are really good."

Of Western's 25-plus 'Top 10' finishes, over ten of those were in the 'Top 3'.

The Leathernecks return to action next Saturday (April 18) at the Illinois Twilight meet in Champaign, Illinois. Fans can follow the track and field team on Twitter at @W1UXCTF.