INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Opening its spring season, the University of Evansville men's and women's track and field teams recorded successful results at the Stan Lyons Invitational on Saturday in Indianapolis, Ind.
For the first time in nearly 40 years, the Aces earned a team victory in a meet as Evansville's men won the Stan Lyons Invitational. The Aces finished with 207 points, 20 points better than second-place Butler in the four-team meet. On the women's side, Evansville finished fourth, amassing 90 points and coming up just eight points behind third-place Wright State.
One of the strongest events of the night for the Aces came in the men's shot put. Evansville swept the top three positions as Michael Boots, Andrew Schuler, and Ryan Freeman led the way for the Aces as Boots captured the win in the shot put with a throw of 13.00 meters.
Trey Riggs put together one of the most impressive individual performances in the invitational. Riggs scored 28 points for the Aces on his own, including a pair of first-place finishes. In the 110 meter hurdles, Riggs earned the win with a time of 15.93. Following up his victory, Riggs secured his second individual victory in the 400 meter hurdles in a time of 1:03.10. Riggs narrowly missed his third win of the day with a second-place finish in the high jump, clearing a height of 1.75 meters.
Recording one of the fastest times in Aces' program history, Greg King turned in a strong performance for Evansville. Competing in the men's 100 meter dash, Riggs finished second with a time of 11.17. King's time is the fastest 100 meter dash time since 1978, when Rory Hennings ran a 10.65 in the 100 meter dash.
Boots continued his impressive day with a second-place finish in the javelin. Competing for the first time in the javelin, Boots finished second with a program record of 40.79 meters, less than five meters behind the event winner.
In the men's triple jump, Stanley Chepchieng captured the individual victory. Chepchieng tallied a distance of 13.20 meters, earning him a win in the triple jump. Chepchieng's strong day continued in the men's 800 meters, finishing third in a time of 1:59.93.
Adding a personal record, Ricky Hendrix narrowly missed a podium finish. Recording a time of 4:13.37, Hendrix set a personal record and secured a fourth-place finish and tallied five points for Evansville.
Continuing to help the Aces maintain an impressive day in field events, Ian Alberts earned another individual victory for Evansville. Jumping to a height of 4.00 meters, Alberts locked in the win in the pole vault competition to help boost the Aces' efforts.
Â
Meet Results (PDF)
Â
For Evansville's women, Taiza Alexander secured a win for the Aces in the long jump. Alexander captured the individual victory with a distance of 4.72 meters, breaking Evansville's program record by .83 meters.
Anna Lowry continued her strong sophomore campaign with a fourth-place finish in the 1500 meters. Breaking her own program, Lowry improved on her mark by more than two seconds, finishing in a time of 4:55.05.
A trio of Aces finished inside the top four of the women's 800 meter run. Led by Haylee Harmeyer, Evansville earned 19 points in the event as Harmeyer, Haley Dean, and Sarah Poltrack finished second, third, and fourth, respectively.
The first Aces woman to compete in the pole vault competition, McKenna Sapp recorded a program record. Sapp finished in second-place with a height of 3.31 meters, just .05 meters off first place.
Evansville continues its outdoor campaign at the Bill Cornell Spring Classic in Carbondale, Ill. on March 22 and 23, hosted by SIU.
Â
- INFO: For all of the latest information on University of Evansville athletics, visit GoPurpleAces.com or follow the program on Twitter via @UEAthletics.
                                  Â
- DONATE: For information on giving to UE Athletics or its individual athletics programs, visit the DONATE tab on the top of GoPurpleAces.com.
Â
- TICKETS: To purchase tickets for University of Evansville athletics events, log on to GoPurpleAces.com and click on the TICKETS tab on top of the page.
