Naperville, Ill. – There was more than love in the air for the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks this Valentine's Day weekend at the Chicagoland Invitational. Personal bests, school records, and a whole lot of cheering filled the field house across the two days of competition. Though the team was separated, with the women competing on Friday and the men on Saturday, they remained united in the pursuit of excellence.
On the women's side, 9 individuals posted personal best times or distances. Amelia Moseman ran a season best time of 58.66 in the 400m dash, breaking her previous school record and placing 3rd out of a field of 43. High-jumper Olivia Jameson also secured 3rd overall with a jump of 1.62m. In the mile, Rachel Brettin ran 9 seconds faster than her previous personal best with a time of 5:26.82, putting her #2 all time in the Illinois Tech records.
For the men, Ajibola Claudius-Akinyemi qualified for finals in the 60m dash, running a personal best time of 7.05, good for #2 all time. In the Weight Throw, Isaiah John threw a personal best 14.37m, placing 9th out of 35 competitors and putting him 3rd all time Illinois Tech.
"A very good dress rehearsal for conference for our team this weekend seeing the best that Chicagoland had to offer," said Head Coach Tyler McQuality. "A lot of great performances as we keep building this indoor season."
From assistant coach Allayna Gagnard, "The men's team raced really well this weekend – we saw PRs from most of our athletes. They approached their individual events with focus and followed through by competing well against a packed field. I look forward to seeing their training to continue to pay off this indoor season and am so proud of them!"
Assistant coach Evan Balizado, who was in attendance both days, had some thoughts as well: "This weekend was a great opportunity to compete against the best schools in Chicago and test some of our main events before conference. Between all the personal bests and new top ten marks, we are still building strength and fine-tuning technique over the next few weeks to peak at the right time. We had some inspiring performances this week and I want to give a shout-out to our freshman Toney [Boyne] for breaking 60 seconds in the 400m for the first time!"
Other Notable Performances
Women's
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5000 meters – Sophia Halama- 19:57.74 (Personal Record, #5 on women's indoor record book)
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Long Jump – Kailey Nicholas- 4.94m (PR, #3), Bella Ortiz- 4.22m (PR, #10)
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Shotput– Jada Muldrow – 8.98m (PR, #5)
Men's
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60 meters – Julius Wardlow- 7.06, (Season Best)
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200 meters– Julius Wardlow- 23.06 (SB)
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1600 meters – Joey Loriso - 4:32.29 (SB)
Up Next
The Hawks will be reunited as both the men's and women's teams head back to Naperville on Friday, February 21st for the F. Lee Slick Invitational, slated to begin at 4:30 PM.
