Sangamon Sun

The Illinois Women's Track and Field team had a successful first day at the Midwest Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, held at the Huff Athletic Center in Monmouth, Illinois. The squad celebrated two conference champions.

Sophomore Deja Anderson claimed victory in the long jump with a leap of 5.48 meters. Junior Fynesse Jones also performed well, securing third place with a distance of 5.38 meters.

Anderson and Jones joined forces with senior Brooke Oakley and sophomore Haley Garrett to win the 4x200 meter relay, setting a new school record with a time of 1:44.12.

In another event, the sprint medley relay team consisting of freshman McKenzie Murray, Oakley, freshman Kami Rhoades, and sophomore Caroline Peters finished fourth with a time of 4:21.33.

In the shot put competition, senior Leslie Earles placed sixth with a throw of 11.51 meters. Junior Delanie Teno achieved seventh place with an identical distance of 11.51 meters, while freshman Natalie Hastings came in eighth at 11.47 meters.

The Lady Blues showed strength in the track events as well by qualifying four individuals for the finals of the 60-meter dash: Anderson posted the fastest time of the day at 7.89 seconds; she will be joined by Garrett, Jones, and Murray.

Sophomore Aleese Trimingham advanced to the finals in the 60-meter hurdles after recording the fastest time (9.34 seconds) on Friday; she will compete alongside senior Patricia Rivera in Saturday's final round.

As it stands now, IC holds fourth place in team standings with a total score of 37 points while Grinnell leads with 55 points.

The championships will continue on Saturday where IC aims to build on their performance from Friday.