EVANSVILLE, Ind. - After five outdoor meets, the University of Evansville men's and women's track and field teams enter the postseason for the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Championships on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Terre Haute, Ind.

The Aces showcased their abilities in the second year back as a program, winning a combined four team titles during the outdoor campaign, including a sweep at the KWC Twilight Invite. Evansville looks to cap-off a successful season in this weekend's MVC Outdorr Championships. The conference championships begin Friday with the decathlon events beginning at 9 a.m. (CT), while the first field event gets started at 11 a.m. (CT) with the men's hammer throw and action on the track opens with the men's and women's 1,500 meter prelims at 5 p.m. (CT). Saturday's action features finals in the field events and primarily prelim events on the track, while Sunday's final day of competition closes with the men's and women's 4x400 meter relays.

In their last competition at the Lenny Lyles/Clark Wood Invitational in Louisville, Ky., Evansville Competed in one of the largest meets in the nation, the Aces joined 26 teams and over 1,400 athletes in action, setting numerous personal and program records.

One of many highlights of the meet came in the women's 5000 meters. Competing in her first event of the meet, Anna Lowry ran to a ninth-place finish with a time of 17:52.44. Running in the fast heat, Lowry ran in the lead pack through the opening mile before running much of the middle portion of the race between the lead pack and main group. Using a fast final lap, Lowry closed to finish inside the top 10 as the top MVC finisher.

Evansville also saw significant success in the field. Improving on his own program record, Justus Donaldson tallied a throw of 46 meters in the men's javelin, placing Donaldson in 12th.

Matching Donaldson's feat, Ryan Freeman broke his program record in the men's hammer throw with a toss of 40.66 meters as Freeman finished in 14th.

The impressive performances in the javelin continued with Nikki Hutchcraft, who set a new program record with a throw of 26.29 meters putting Hutchcraft in 22nd place.
 

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Adding to a strong showing for the Aces' throwers, Michael Boots tallied the best throw by an Evansville student-athlete since 1981 in the men's shot put competition. Boots finished in seventh in the event on the meet's opening night with a throw of 13.71 meters. Boots also competed well in the men's discus, finishing second in the open competition with a throw of 48.03 meters, the fourth-best throw by both open and seeded competitors.

Freshman Taiza Alexander was featured in a pair of season best performances. Alexander bettered her program record in the women's long jump competition, jumping a distance of 5.24 meters.  Along with Alexander's record-breaking jump, Alexander also set a season-best in the 100 meters, finishing in a time of 13.04 in 32nd place.

The Aces again saw their team-best men's 100 meter time lowered as Greg King ran a 10.86 in the prelims, marking the fastest 100 meter time by an Evansville student-athlete this season.

Tying a personal record, Stanley Chepchieng earned a sixth-place finish in the triple jump. Chepchieng's jump of 14.07 meters tied his previous career best and placed him third among competitors from the MVC.

Besting it's own program mark, the women's 4x100 meter relay team of Taiza Alexander, Skylar Tucker, Monica Watkins, and McKenna Sapp secured a top 10 finish with a time of 49.86, finishing ahead of MVC foe Valparaiso.

The women's 1500 meters featured a pair of PRs for Evansville. Anna Lowry added to her program record with a time of 4:42.02 as Lowry finished 11th. Joining Lowry with a pr in the race was Savanna Mills, who crossed the line in 44th with a personal-best time of 5:22.64.

On the men's side, Ricky Hendrix ran to a new pr in the 1500 meters, breaking 4:10 for the first time in his career, finishing in 31st with a time of 4:09.36.

In the women's 400 meters, Skylar Tucker led Evansville with a run of 1:02.57 and finishing in 35th. Recording a collegiate-best time, Sam Weldon crossed the line in 1:07.30 in the women's 400 meters with a 38th-place finish.
 

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