KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
TERRE
HAUTE, Ind. –
The barker at the circus says “Come one, come all, to the greatest show of them
all.” That is exactly what is to be experienced Saturday as Indiana State hosts
Illinois State in the ninth renewal of the Coughlan-Malloy Cup Series.
On
the women's side, it will be a battle of two top 25 teams as the 18th ranked
Sycamores host the 25th ranked Redbirds. Both men's teams are also highly
regarded with Indiana State ranked 35th nationally and Illinois State 68th.
The
competition will be held at the Rose-Hulman Sports and Recreation Center as
part of the Terre Haute Double Dual. Along with the battle between the two
Missouri Valley Conference foes, the Rose-Hulman Engineers will host Illinois
Wesleyan and Washington University of St. Louis in a Division III competition
at the same time.
“This
is the only time this season that our fans will be able to see us in action in
a home meet,” John McNichols, Indiana State men's track & field coach, said.
“It is always an exciting competition between us and we will be competing on
one of the best, if not the best, 200 meter indoor tracks in the nation.”
The
women's competition will be equally exciting.
“Illinois
State is a very balanced team and their strengths are almost the same as ours,”
Angela Martin, Indiana State women's track & field coach, said. “It is certainly
going to be a close competition from the field events through all the running
events.”
Action
begins at 12:30 p.m. (ET) with the field events. Track competition begins at
1:15 p.m. (ET) with the 60 meter dash and 60 meter hurdle preliminaries. The
meet is expected to conclude at approximately 4:30 p.m. (ET).
Indiana
State has won seven of the eight previous Coughlan-Malloy Cup meetings
including the last six. Both the Sycamore men and women have won seven of the
eight meetings with the men winning six straight and the women having their streak
of seven straight stopped last year with a four point loss.
“We
are looking to start our streak again on Saturday,” Martin said.
Terre
Haute native John Mascari will run in his first 3,000 meter competition of the
indoor season and McNichols believes the freshman will continue his outstanding
distance running from the cross country season.
This
will also be an opportunity for local fans to watch Olympian Greggmar Swift
compete in the 60 meter hurdles along Kevin Piraino and Maurice Lyke who are
competing for the first time this winter.
A
featured battle of the day will be in the women's shot put and women's weight
throw as Sycamore Felisha Johnson and Illinois State's Brittany Smith battle
for the fourth straight year. Johnson currently leads the nation in both events
while Smith, an NCAA finalist a year ago, was recently placed on the Bowerman
watch list. The Bowerman is the Heisman of track and field.
“One
of the key things about this meet is knocking the rust off after the Christmas
break,” McNichols said. “Most of the athletes trained well over the break and
it will be great to see them compete on a fast track.”
This
is the first of two “Cup” events for the Sycamores as Indiana State will visit
Purdue University on January 19 for a dual meet with the Boilermakers for the
Edmonds Cup.
Track and Field News has tabbed the
Indiana State women seventh in their preseason dual meet team rankings while
the Sycamore men are ranked 10th.
