Carbondale Reporter

Southern Illinois University participated in its second outdoor track and field meet of the season at the WashU Distance Carnival and Invitational in St. Louis. The athletes demonstrated strong performances despite facing personal challenges in the preceding week.

Distance Coach Angelina Ramos said, "There was a lot of life adversity encountered by many of our event groups across the last week. Our Salukis made us proud this weekend in their resilience to show up and compete and walk away with lifetime personal bests in the 400M hurdles, throws, steeplechase, 5K, and more. Many athletes demonstrated their best season opener to date."

Brianna Nieset successfully ran the 1500M event at the WashU Invitational, winning with a time of 4:48.46. Other notable performances came from Audrey Boles, Brodie Denny, and Ansley Bailey, who all competed in the 1500M and 400M events. "Audrey and Brodie took key steps in how they raced their 1500M efforts, while Ansley earned a 200M 25.11 and a 300M 39.98 best mark with their collegiate open 400M debut," Ramos explained.

Shane Ashton excelled in the 400M dash, winning with a time of 48.28 seconds. Christian Coleman and Britany Ziemer also achieved victories in the 110M hurdles and 3000M steeplechase events, respectively. "Nine-second lifetime personal best leading wire to wire to take home the win in the wind," Ramos commented about Ziemer's performance.

The men's 4x400 relay team finished second, with Josh Delgado playing a key role. "800M specialist Josh Delgado's task was to practice his over-distance and under-distance strength this weekend," Ramos said.

Dallas Hodge showed promise in the field events with a second-place in the hammer throw, while Christine Nosike and Halaya Woodson put up commendable performances in the discus and hammer throw events, respectively.

At the WashU Distance Carnival, Nieset finished 23rd in the 1500M before racing again the next day. Hannah Meiser debuted in the 10K race, while Riley Linville and Will Foltz competed in the 5000M race. Weston Jokerst took part in the 1500M event.

Athletes achieved personal bests in several categories, from the 200M dash to the hammer throw. The Salukis will next participate in the Bill Cornell Spring Classic in Carbondale, Illinois, on April 4th.

For updates, the team can be followed on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook under the @SIUTrackXC and @SalukiTrackAndField accounts.