The Eastern men and women’s track teams placed third at the EIU Big Blue Classic over the weekend at O’Brien Field.

Eastern had two first-place finishes in the 10k and the men’s 4×800 relay.

Panther junior distance runner Derek Johnson won the men’s 10k with his time of 31 minutes, 19.24 seconds.

The relay team for the men, which included junior Mark Pedziwiatr, sophomore Miroljub Marin, senior Ephraim Dorsey and freshman Michael Brown, posted a time of 7:48.50 and took first place Friday.

Saturday, four stadium records and five meet records were broken.

Eastern took the 800-meter dash for the both the men and women with strong performances from junior Kristen Paris and Dorsey. Paris had a time of 2:12.04, while Dorsey ran it in 1:51.29.

Red-shirt junior Norvel Mohammed had a big day setting an Eastern record winning the 200-meter dash with a time of 20.60 seconds. He is now second in the Eastern record books for the outdoor 200-meter dash.

Mohammed also tied for first with senior Brandon Stryganek from Illinois in the 100-meter dash with his time of 10.54 seconds.

“I was seeing that I was getting beat, and I was just thinking about how I’m going to come back in this race and at about 70 meters, I felt like I got my kick in,” Mohammed said.

Mohammed was also a part of the 4×100 relay team with teammates Zach Booth, Calvin Edwards and Jamal Robinson that took second place with a time of 40.53 seconds. Mohammed was the anchor of that race.

The women’s 4×100 team, which featured junior Angelica Anyaogu, junior Briana Walker, sophomore Anita Saffa and freshman Nyjah Lane, also took second place with a time of 46.46 seconds.

Junior Britten Petrey from the University of Illinois set the stadium record in the steeplechase with her time of 10:33.08 seconds.

Brittany Smith, who competed unattached, broke the stadium record in women’s shot put with her throw of 61 feet, 11 1/2 inches. Geneva Stevens, who was also competing unattached, won and broke the stadium record in the hammer throw Friday.

A meet record was set by senior Curtis Wideman from Southern Illinois in the men’s discuss with a throw of 184’06.” Freshman Alexis Duncan of Grand Valley State set the meet record for the women’s long jump with her jump of 19’6”.

Another unattached competitor, Kristen Hixson, cleared 14’ in the women’s pole vault, breaking the stadium record. Kandie Bloch-Jones from Illinois, and Elizabeth Evans, who was unattached, broke the meet record in the women’s long jump.

Mark Shanahan can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].