Malachi Adams Wins Two Summit League Titles

Both the men’s and women’s squads finish fifth at The Summit League Championships

COMPLETE RESULTS

BROOKINGS, S.D. – The Western Illinois track and field team wrapped up the 2017 indoor campaign at The Summit League Championships on Saturday, Feb.25.

Both the men and the women's squads recorded fifth-place finishes. The men compiled 35 points while the women totaled 26.5. North Dakota State claimed the team titles on both the men's and women's sides.

"We can take a lot of positives from this meet, but not everything is always as good as we would want," said head coach Mike Stevenson. "Our men's team finished fifth overall, up a place from last year and more than doubled the points we scored a year ago. All things considered, we could not have been really any better. We could have scored more points here and there, but in the end, it would have not amounted to a higher place, only a higher score."

Malachi Adams brought home two Summit League titles in both the 60 and 200-meter dashes, setting two new program records and a league record in the process. In the 60-meter dash, he re-broke the WIU record that he set last week with a time of 6.71. The sophomore then came back and set a new Summit League record and program record in the 200-meters with a time of 21.34.

"Malachi Adams was clearly the team leader, racking up two great wins, both in school record times, and adding a conference record to boot," added Stevenson. "He has just scratched the surface of his talent, and if he figures everything out, he will be a force to be reckoned with not only in our conference but regionally and perhaps nationally."

Also setting a new WIU record and earning All-League honors in the process was the women's 4x400-meter relay team. Bo Brasseur, Kaliyah Cobb, Alyssa Johnson and Sierra Woods teamed up for a third-place finish, clocking a time of 3:50.02.

"The highlight of the meet for the women was the setting of a new 4x400 relay school record from Johnson, Cobb, Brasseur and Woods," said Stevenson. "They ran a great race and ended up on the podium."

Khalyiah Lawson secured a podium finish in the triple jump with a mark of 38-0 for third place overall.

On the track, senior Alyssa Johnson raced to a strong finish in the 800-meters, placing fourth with a near-personal best of 2:10.43. Freshman Josh Kirby also placed fourth in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.36.

Also scoring points for the team was Cobb in the 200, placing seventh in 25.55. Freshman Michaela Busch earned a fifth-place finish in the high jump with a mark of 5-1. Tevin Taylor just missed scoring for the men's team, placing ninth in the triple jump with a new personal best of 44-10 ¼.

"For the women, we left a lot of points on the track and in the field that we should have scored, but again, it would not have mattered in the overall rankings. The squad more than doubled last year's point totals and moved up from 7th to 5th place, both great feats," Stevenson added. "The women are a bit disappointed with some of their individual performances, but as a team, they finished as best that they could so we have to be a little happy and just get ready to move on to outdoors."

The Purple and Gold will now turn their sites towards the outdoor season, which begins on March 25 at the Southern Illinois Invitational.

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