The Chicago State men's and women's indoor track & field teams competed at the Illini Invitational hosted by the University of Illinois at the Armory Building in Champaign, IL today.
Jalen Jones highlighted the performances for the Cougars. He recorded personal best times in the 60m prelims (7.19) and 200m finals (23.26) while the women's 4x400 relay team (
Miahna Harden,
Saskkia Wiggan,
Adaria Blackwell,
Yasmin Grace) established their best mark of the season (4:09.97).
"It was a great effort overall," interim director of track & field and cross country
Chris Nightengale said. "We're still shaking off the rust from winter break. Our women's 4x400 hit their best mark of the season and we continued progress to our conference goals"
The next competition for the men's and women's indoor track and field teams is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 29 at the Aurora Grand Prix hosted by Aurora University at the Gately Indoor Track & Field Complex. Teams from 12 schools are expected to compete including host Aurora, Benedictine, Carthage, Carroll, College of DuPage, Concordia Univ. Chicago, Chicago State, Illinois Institute of Technology, Millikin, Illinois Wesleyan, North Central, University of Chicago. The meet will begin at 11 a.m. and conclude with 4x400m relay scheduled to begin at 5:45 p.m.
The following are the events in which Chicago State competed, the winner of the event and the CSU place and performance.
Women Triple Jump
1 Kenyae Majors, Northern Illinois, 11.78m
Women Long Jump
1 Nya Carr, Illinois, 5.39m
Men Long Jump
1 Daniel Mboyo Illinois 6.65m
Men 1 Mile
1 Eddie Lennon Illinois 4:18.56
Men 800m
1 Charles Murphy, Illinois State, 1:59.55
Women 800m
1 Emma Vorpagel, Northern Illinois, 2:24.51
Men 600m
1 Jason Thormo Illinois 1:22.59
Women 400m
1 Arianna Walker, Illinois State, 1:00.18
Men 200m
1 Brandon Gage, Illinois State, 22.29
Women 200m
1 Jahnetta Jones, Northern Illinois, 25.27
Men 60m Hurdles
1 Bret Dannis, Illinois, 7.99
Men 4x400m Relay
1 Illinois "A", 3:19.42
Women 4x400m Relay
1 Illinois "A", 3:54.48
About Chicago State
Chicago State University Athletics is comprised of 15 intercollegiate teams involving over 150 student-athletes that compete in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and volleyball. CSU held memberships in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and NCAA Division II before transitioning to NCAA Division I in 1994. Melvin Bland was the first CSU student-athlete to gain NAIA All-American status in 1974 as a wrestler. Fred Evans became the first black swimmer ever to win a national championship in 1975. CSU's women's basketball team earned a spot in the 2011 Women's Basketball Invitational and CSU's men's basketball team won the 2013 Great West Conference Tournament title and made an appearance in the CollegeInside.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). The Men's Outdoor Track & Field 4x100-Meter Relay team were 2019 Honorable Mention All-Americans and WAC Champions. Their feat marked the first time the Chicago State's men's track & field program was represented at the national meet. In 2021, three different CSU teams earned victories over Big Ten opponents with men's soccer beating Northwestern, women's basketball upending Wisconsin and volleyball, which established a school record 17 wins and hosted a post-season volleyball tournament for the first time in program history, swept Indiana in Bloomington.
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