ST. LOUIS – In the final meet of the weekend the University of Evansville track and field team earned three podium finishes and reset another program record at the Billiken Invite.

The Purple Aces men's team had their best overall finish of the season on Saturday in St. Louis, finishing fourth of 21 teams with 45 points and second among Division I teams. The UE women placed 21st of 21 with eight points from junior hurdler Kate Walke (Batesville, Ind. / Oldenburg Academy) new program record, and sophomore Chase Hayes (Noblesville, Ind. / Western HS) finish in the 800-meter race. Evansville had one first-place finish in the men's 800-meter along with two other podium placements in the men's 800-meter race and the men's 100-meter dash.

SPRINTS, HURDLES, RELAY
Walke improved on her outdoor 100-meter hurdle record on Saturday afternoon, running the hurdles .20 seconds faster than Friday, finishing in 15.25 seconds for eighth place. Walke also competed in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.37 seconds. The Aces' only other hurdler freshman Zander Pickens (Poseyville, Ind. / North Posey HS) was a little slower than his time on Friday in the 400-meter hurdles at 1:00.33.

In the men's 100-meter dash, sophomore Raymond Felton III (Houston / Clear Brook HS) earned UE's first podium finish of the day, placing third with a time of 10.79 seconds. Sophomore Connor Shin (Bloomington, Ind. / Bloomington North HS) also finished in the Top 10 with a time of 11.01 seconds for sixth. Junior José Ocampo (Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico) placed 15th for Evansville with a time of 11.20 seconds, while senior Antwaun Powell (Ringgold, Ga. / Heritage HS) finished in 12.47 seconds.

Walke was the only runner to compete in the women's 200-meter dash for the Aces. She finished the event in 28.68 seconds for a PR. In the men's 200-meter dash, Shin had the fastest finish at 22.11 seconds for 10th place. Ocampo ran the race in 22.94 while Pickens was the last sprint runner for UE at 23.55 seconds.

In the first relay of the season, Evansville's 4x400-meter women's team finished fifth in the event with a time of 4:23.87. The team was comprised of sophomores Hayes and Kyndall Anthis (Pakota, Ind. / Princeton Community HS) and freshmen Rebekah Sachs (Milwaukee / Milwaukee School of Languages) and Lauren Bradley (Russiaville, Ind. / Western HS).

The Aces had two men's team compete in the 4x400-meter relay with the team of Ocampo, sophomores Tomasso Losma (Lombardia, Italy), and Owen Cuplin (Hampshire, Ill. / Hampshire HS), and junior Alejandro Navarrette (Mogadore, Ohio / Mogadore HS) having the higher finish in 4th with a time of 3:26.11. UE's other men's relay team of freshmen Myles Terry (Evansville, Ind. / North HS) and Kadin McAllister (Lilburn, Ga. / Parkview HS), sophomore Jakub Nowicki (Poznan, Poland), and senior Adam Oulgout (St. Paul, Minn. / Central HS) finished in 3:36.08.

MID-DISTANCE
Evansville had five runners finish in the women's 1500-meter race as Bradley led the way for the second day in a row with a time of 5:08.89. Sachs and finished closely behind with times of 5:09.95 and 5:10.06. Sophomore Avery Stephens (Newburg, Ind. / Castle HS) and freshman Skylar Dickenson (Brownsburg, Ind. / Brownsburg HS) rounded out the race for the Aces with times of 5:11.59 and 5:19.03.

In the men's 1500-meter race, UE had five runner,s with sophomore Samuel Lea (Worchester, England) having the best finish at 11th with a time of 4:02.60. Sophomores Nowicki and Cuplin finished within six places of each other with times of 4:09.92 and 4:16.56. McAllister and Navarrette finished the race in 4:34.22 and 4:38.67.

Evansville had four runners in the women's and men's 800-meter races, with Hayes being the only entry in the women's race, finishing sixth at only a second off her PR at 2:21.86. In the men's race the Aces took the top two spots as sophomore Cedrik Flipo (Beloeil, Quebec) and Oulgout finished in 1:53.08 and 1:53.49. Lea rounded out the race for UE with a time of 2:06.04.

DISTANCE
Freshman Andrew Potter (Warsaw, Ind. / Warsaw Community HS) picked up a fifth-place finish in Evansville's first track event of the day and the team's only distance event of the day. Potter ran a 16:18.90 in the men's 5,000-meter while freshman Oliver Wilgocki (Chesterton, Ind. / Chesterton HS) ran a 16:52.10 for ninth.  

JUMPS
Powell was the only Ace to place in a jump event, competing in the men's triple jump on Saturday. The senior placed ninth with a jump of 10.90 meters.

FIELD
UE began Saturday in the field as junior Gwen Darrah (Cleveland, Ohio / Orange HS) placed ninth in the women's hammer throw with a throw of 39.89 meters. Senior Kaitlyn Sansone (Fairfield, Ohio / Mercy McAuley HS) was the only Evansville woman to compete in the javelin, with a throw of 30.75 meters for 14th in the event. Freshman Emma Bertel (Franklin, Ind. / Franklin Community HS) threw for 9.47 meters in the shot put to round out the Aces women's day in the field.

On the men's side, sophomore Tyler Cherne (Boardman, Ohio / Boardman HS) finished fifth in the hammer throw at 46.01 meters. Sophomore Cole Johnson (Salem, Ill. / Salem Community HS) and freshman Beau Baldwin (Mt. Vernon HS) also competed in the hammer throw with throws of 35.90 meters and 35.15 meters. Johnson competed in two more events for UE, finishing fifth in the discus with a throw of 42.55 meters and setting a PR in the javelin with a throw of 40.60 meters.

UP NEXT:
Next weekend, Evansville heads back to Charleston, Ill. For the second time in the academic year for the Big Blue Classic. Hosted by Eastern Illinois, the Aces will compete on both Friday, April 4, and Saturday, April 5. The meet on Friday will begin at 2 p.m. at O'Brien Field, while Saturday's events begin at 11 a.m.