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Championship Central (Results)
KIRKSVILLE, Missouri – Two University of Illinois Springfield freshmen swept the men’s and women’s 10,000-meter races Thursday on the opening night of the 2019 Great Lakes Valley Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which are being held at Gardner Track at Stokes Stadium on the campus of Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri.
Illinois Springfield’s Blake Jones controlled the men’s 10,000 meters, winning by eight seconds in 31 minutes, 16.62 seconds. He outkicked University of Southern Indiana sophomore Wyat Harmon (31:24.28) and UIS sophomore Tyler Pasley (31:31.46) for the win.
Youth prevailed in the women’s race as well, with UIS newcomer Taryn Christy setting a new Stokes Stadium record in the 10,000 meters with a winning and NCAA provisional qualifying time of 36:33.68. She scored a nine-second victory over USI sophomore Jennifer Comastri (36:42.85) and was 15 seconds better than Drury University Claire McCune (36:48.57) in third.
Prior to the 10K finals, preliminaries in the 1,500 meters were held with Truman sophomore Gemma Saathoff (4:49.46) and Bellarmine University senior Joseph Drabot (4:02.41) crossing the line first in their respective races to lead a group of 12 to the finals.
In addition, the first half of the heptathlon and decathlon events took place. Missouri S&T freshman Nick Janke leads the men’s decathlon with 3,272 points, while Maryville University sophomore Casey Berberich (2,859) holds a slim 14-point advantage over second-place Camille Baker (2,845) of Missouri S&T in the heptathlon.
Four teams earned points on the first day of action, with Illinois Springfield leading the way with 18 points, followed by University of Indianapolis (9), Southern Indiana (9) and Truman (3). On the women’s side, Illinois Springfield and Southern Indiana are tied for the lead with 10 points, while Drury (9), Bellarmine University (6) and Lewis University (4) round out the top five.
In Friday’s field events, the men will compete in the finals of the discus, long jump, hammer throw and pole vault, while the women will crown winners in the hammer, long jump, shot put and pole vault.
Running events commence at 3:30 p.m. CT with the 110-meter hurdles. The 100-, 200-, 400-, and 800-meter races are scheduled throughout the day, while the men’s and women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase will begin at 7:10 p.m. in the nightcap.
Friday’s action will once again be available for free on GLVCSN.com, the GLVCSN iOS and Android mobile apps, and GLVCSN OTT apps on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Android TV.
In addition to GLVCSN’s coverage, live results of the conference meet are available on at
GLVCsports.com/2019outdoor, while fans can also follow the event on Twitter via @GLVCsports and @GLVCSN, as well as featured hashtags, #GLVCtrack and #GLVCchamps.