In her first opportunity of the indoor track and field season, Angie Simone already made a statement with her feet.

Facing Indiana State University at the Sycamore Preview Track and Field Meet on Dec. 13, 2003, Simone bested a field of six in the one mile run with a time of 5:14.03. Simone was so far ahead of the pack that her closest competitor (Dani Prince of ISU) was more than five seconds behind her.

“She’s doing fine so far,” John McInerney, Eastern track and field distance coach, said. “She had a nice mile run at Indiana State to start the season.”

Unfortunately for Simone, she hasn’t been able to run in competition since. The Panthers are in the mist of a five week break that will culminate Jan. 24, with the EIU Mega Meet. Of all Eastern runners, McInerney knows Simone will come out strong after the layoff.

“Angie is a kid I don’t have to worry about,” McInerney said. “She had a good three week break over Christmas, focusing on the season and keeping her milage up with runs.”

The mile is not the only run Simone will look to dominate this indoor season for the Panthers. A versatile runner, the Hickory Hills native will appear in a plethora of distance events in the upcoming season.

“Angie will run many different events for us,” McInerney said. “She’ll run the 3,000-meter, the 5,000-meter and the mile thoughout the season. Angie prefers the indoor season and she’s better on the track. She’s more aggressive running inside.”

While Simone can compete in all three events, McInerney said she’ll only participate in the lengthy 5,000-meter run a few times during the year.

“Those larger runs are strenuous,” McInerney said. “Runners can’t do those events week in and week out. To keep the legs fresh she will only be in the 5,000-meter a couple of times, but because of her versatility we can use her on and off in each of the distance events.”

Last season, as just a sophomore, Simone showed that bright performances were on the horizon. In two of her three distance events, Simone turned in the fastest times of any Panther.

In the 3,000-meter run, Simone’s time of 10:17.91 was nearly a half minute faster than runner-up Krissy Peters’ 10:45.39. In the longer 5,000-meter run, Simone turned in a Panthers best of 18:04.38. That time was well over a minute quicker than Lizette Ruvalcaba second-place finish of 19:19.05 in February.

With the new season just underway McInerney is looking forward to Simone improving of those already stellar times.

“I sure hope she does,” McInerney said. “Angie has set big goals for this season and she already had a indoor PR (personal best) in the mile run at Indiana State last month.”

McInerney said Simone along with Stephanie Bone and Amanda Schuette are the leaders of the distance corp. It appears the Panther track team is in good hands when it comes to the distance crew and McInerney pointed out Eastern will need a strong year from these ladies in order to bring home an Ohio Valley Conference title come late February.

“We’re trying to build our team with nice numbers in all the events (sprints, hurdles, distances),” McInerney said. “We can’t win unless each area is strong and gets points. Right now we have a few injuries with the distance runners, but the distance crew still wants to play a crucial role on our team.”