Sangamon Sun

The Illinois College women's track and field team made a strong start at the 2024 Midwest Conference Outdoor Championship held at England Stadium in Jacksonville, Illinois. The Lady Blues achieved notable performances on the first day of the event.

In the pole vault competition, Maddie Benson secured second place by clearing 3.35 meters, while her teammate Paige Nowak finished third with a clearance of 3.20 meters. Deja Anderson also delivered an impressive performance, taking second place in the long jump with a leap measuring 5.54 meters.

During the preliminaries, Aleese Trimingham qualified for the finals in both the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles. She recorded a time of 16.09 seconds to finish second in the 100-meter hurdles and completed the 400-meter hurdles in 1:13.77.

The Lady Blues will have three athletes competing in both the finals of the 100 meters and 200 meters events. In the preliminary round of the 100 meters, Anderson finished second with a time of 12.40 seconds, followed by Mattie Brown who was third with a time of 12.45 seconds, and Haley Garrett who came fourth clocking in at 12.53 seconds.

In the preliminary round of the 200 meters, Anderson again placed second with a time of 25.70 seconds; Garrett took third with a time of 25.85 seconds; and Mady Salisbury finished sixth recording a time of 26.50 seconds.

The championship is set to continue tomorrow with field events starting at 10:30 a.m., followed by running events beginning at approximately noon.