The Northern Illinois track and field team continued its record-breaking outdoor season Saturday as the Huskies shattered two NIU school records in the second and final day of competition at the Drake Relays, in Des Moines, Iowa.
Freshman Courtney Oldenburg shattered the NIU 1,500-meter school record, when she raced to an eighth-place finish of 4:29.83. Oldenburg beat the existing school record time of 4:32.10, which was set by Alicja Cjazka at the Redbird Invitational in 2005.
The Huskies set their second school record of the afternoon when they raced to a time of 4:.02.39 in the 1600-meter sprint relay. Roneisha Frye, Megan Gregory, Rasheta Butler, and Amanda Trancoso comprised the relay team that took 19th in the event. The previous school record (4:03.09) was set at the Drake Relays in 2004.
Several Huskies competed at the Redbird Spring Invitational in Normal, Illinois, Saturday afternoon. NIU notched two top-three performances and recorded six personal records at the invite.
Chanel Kellyman saw the Huskies top performance of the afternoon when she race to a second-place time of 12.49 in the 100-meter dash. Tiffany Wallick competed in the discus throw for NIU, throwing a third-place mark of 132-04.
NIU saw three career bests in the distance events, when Breanna Brevitt, Jessica Troike and Heather Childs each raced to personal records. Brevitt ran the 5000-meter in a seventh-place time of 18:37.25, Troike ran the 1500-meter in a time of 5:26.21 to finish 13th, and Childs finished 10th in the 800-meter in with a time of 2:27.76.
In the field events, Rachel Pinson and Mary Bull each reached personal records. Pinson tied her personal record in the long jump with an 11th-place leap of 15-09. Bull notched two personal bests when she threw a sixth-place javelin mark of 110-08, and seventh-place score of 39-09 in the shot put.
“The coaching staff and I are extremely proud of how the girls performed this weekend,” head track and field coach Connie Teaberry said. “We had a solid performance in the second day of the Drake relays, and the girls came out and performed very well against tough competition. We are looking forward to heading home to host the Huskies open and to have the opportunity to have one more competition before we head to the MAC Championships.”
The Huskies will conclude their regular season at home when they host the second annual Huskie Open, April 29, in a final tune-up before the Mid-American Conference Outdoor Championships in Buffalo, N.Y., May 12-15.
