EIU track and field kicked off its outdoor season with 12 first place finishes at the Friday-Saturday Big Blue Meet at O’Brien Field.
Fifth year Shawn Lacy racked up two of the 12 first place finishes, and was the only Panther to pick up a win in a running event and a field event.
In the 100-meter dash, Lacy finished with a time of 10.55 seconds, and in the javelin throw he scored a throw of 58.86 meters, beating out second place by almost five meters.
“It’s two different events of course, but I think I know how to get into a different mindset when it comes to sprinting,” Lacy said.
Lacy was all-Ohio Valley Conference in both the 4×100 meter dash and the javelin throw and has his sights set on regionals and nationals this season, as he hopes to qualify in both events.
“I think the name of the game is being healthy overall,” Lacy said. “It’s a long season and the weather fluctuates, so preparing both mentally and physically to do a lot of events helps out a lot.”
Senior Rylea Borgic finished in first place in the women’s 5,000 meter run on Friday with a time of 18:05.39. Borgic built a large gap early in the race and finished 30 seconds ahead of second place
It wasn’t only the seniors who found success in the events over the weekend. Freshman Mason Booker made his outdoor season debut in three events, the 110 meter hurdles, 400-meter hurdles, and had a spot in the 4×400-meter relay.
As Booker reached his final stretch of the 4×400, his teammates packed the sideline to cheer him on as they do with every race to push their fellow runners to dig deep at the finish line.
“You feel a difference between when there’s nobody there and when there’s a lot of people cheering for you,” Booker said. “The Panthers are great about keeping that team morale high.”
Booker’s goal for the outdoor season is to help the team out by scoring in the conference meet at the end of the season.
Freshman Ashlyn Denney also got her outdoor season off to a hot start with a first place finish in the women’s 1500 meter race.
Denney normally runs the 800-meter, and she said she felt nervous before running the 1,500 meter race.
“It’s a different kind of pain [than the 800],” Denney said. “You definitely feel it in your chest later in the race whereas in the 800, you feel it right away.”
Denney shared Booker’s sentiment about their teammates cheering them on, saying that it helps her to remember to fix her form, and that hearing them cheer helps remember how much support she has.”
Junior Brenda Torres raced alongside Denney but finished in third place, lower than her expectations.
“It’s not a great day for me,” Torres said. “I didn’t open how I wanted to, but it’s only the first meet, so there’s only improvement from here.”
Torres remained optimistic about shaking off what she would describe as an off day.
“It’s important to reflect on it, see what went wrong,” she said. “Where I could have made a different move, or where I should have backed off a little bit, just seeing what I can do to make sure I get closer to my goals.”
Torres is coming off a first team all-OVC season in both the indoor track season and cross country and is looking to carry that momentum into the outdoor season.
“It feels great being back with my teammates,” Torres said. “Track is more of an individual sport compared to cross country, but even so, we all do such a great job at encouraging each other and cheering each other on.”
Participants in the Big Blue Meet were not limited to official school teams. The Illinois Track Club made an appearance in many events and hanging around with the official student athletes.
The meet concluded with the seniors being recognized and given gifts to celebrate what will be their last outdoor season at Eastern.
Director of track and field James Gildan spoke to the team after the recognition, commending the team for a successful meet.
“Let’s make sure our mental and our spirit is continued to be trained,” Gildan said to the team. “Let’s make sure that we are investing in our health.”
Track and field’s next meet is scheduled for Friday April 3 in Terre Haute, Indiana. Indiana State will host the meet.
Jacksen Adkins can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].
