KEVIN JENISON

GoSycamores.com

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Indiana State senior Brandon Pounds smashed his own school record in the men's weight throw and currently has the best throw in the nation by almost three feet after winning the event at the Meyo Invitational Friday.

“It was a decent night,” Angela Martin, Indiana State women's track & field coach, said. “The team got us started on the right foot with some personal best's. We are looking for it to carry over for tomorrow.”

Pounds' best throw went 73-feet-11.75-inches (22.55 meters) which broke his own school record of 70-feet-8.5-inches (21.55 meters) which he set just a year ago. The distance also set a new meet record and is the best throw in the nation currently, surpassing Virginia Tech's Alexander Ziegler who had a throw of 70-feet-9.25-inches (21.57 meters) at the Hokie Invitational last week.

Sycamore teammate Chris Fields was third in the weight throw with a personal best distance of 64-feet-5-inches (19.63 meters) while Justin Applegate was 11th at 57-feet-0-inches (17.37 meters).

Indiana State senior Felisha Johnson out threw Purdue's Dani Bunch for the second straight week, taking the women's weight throw at the Meyo Invitational Friday while Sycamore freshman John Mascari ran the second fastest 5,000 meters in school history in placing second overall.

Johnson's best throw went 68-feet-3-inches (20.81 meters) which topped Bunch's mark of 67-feet-11-inches (20.72 meters). Johnson broke the meet record which she set just a year ago. Indiana State's Dawnielle Passmore tied for 26 th at 46-feet-6-inches (14.19 meters).

Mascari came within three seconds of breaking the Indiana State record in the men's 5,000 meters as he closed strong to finish in 14:27.65 and just behind Notre Dame's Michael Clevenger (14:26.98). George Condy holds the Indiana State record when he cruised the circuit in 14:24.19 during the 1995 season. Sycamore sophomore Taylor Head ran a career best 14:48.62 to finish 16th in the event.

Senior Kalli Dalton competed in her first 1,000 meter race of her career and posted the second fastest time in Indiana State history as she crossed the finish line in 2:55.21 which put her 18th overall. Kathy Plank-Cisneros holds the school record after running 2:52.69 in 1989.

Sophomore Nicole Lucas ran her first 5,000 meter race of the season and posted a career best finish of 17:52.41 which ranks 14th on ISU's all-time list.

Junior Greggmar Swift remained undefeated in the men's 60 meter hurdles, posting the top time in the preliminary round at 7.86 and then tying his career best of 7.72 seconds in posting the top time in the semifinals. He will run in the finals at 2:55 p.m. (ET) Saturday.

Freshman Adarius Washington was sixth fastest in the preliminaries at 8.08 but failed to advance out of the semifinals as he finished in 11th place with a time of 8.13. Freshman Marcus Neely was 42nd in the preliminaries (8.61).

Stacia Weatherford advanced out of the preliminaries of the women's 60 meters hurdles with the 11th fastest time of 8.74 seconds but did not make it to the finals as she placed ninth in the semifinals with a time of 8.68 seconds. Taylor Gilles was 26th in the preliminaries by tying her personal best of 8.89 seconds.

Indiana State freshman Kimyanna Rudolph tied for second with junior Lauren Rice tying for fifth in the women's pole vault open with each clearing career best marks. Rudolph tied Indiana's Sophie Gutermuth as each cleared 12-feet-7.5-inches (3.85 meters) while Rice tied Eastern Illinois' Annemarie Redi as each cleared 12-feet-1.5-inches (3.70 meters). Notre Dame's Annie Polcari won the event by clearing 13-feet-1.5-inches (4.00 meters), the same height that Rudolph came very close to making but just nudged the bar.

Freshman Ioanna Kolsidou tied for 12th in the women' s high jump by clearing 5-feet-4.25-inches (1.63 meters) with Kaisha Martin 21st in the women's long jump with a distance of 18-feet-0.25-inches (5.49 meters). Martin also finished 22nd in the 60 meter dash preliminaries (7.83 seconds).

Junior Maurice Lyke marked his return to action in a big way as he competed for the first time this indoor season and finished third in the men's long jump with a distance of 23-feet-11.5-inches (7.30 meters) which is just short of his personal best of 24-feet-2.25-inches. Junior Robert Webb was 11th with a distance of 22-feet-9-inches (6.93 meters).

Freshman Connor Curley established a career best by clearing 15-feet-9-inches (4.80 meters) in tying for 10th in the men's pole vault. Sophomore Wes Schenck finished 13th overall after clearing 15-feet-3-inches (4.65 meters).

Competition resumes at 10 a.m. (ET) Saturday and continues through the afternoon.