On the final day of competition at the 2018 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, freshman Stanley Chepchieng’s performance in the men’s triple jump highlighted a strong day for the Purple Aces in Terre Haute, Ind.
Chepchieng became the first Ace in outdoor track and field history to score points for the team as the Kabarnet, Kenya native earned a seventh-place finish in the men’s triple jump. In an event that the freshman had competed in just one time prior to Sunday, Chepchieng recorded a personal-best and the second-best distance in program history with a jump of 13.86 meters, earning the Aces a pair of points.
The second set of points earned by the Aces in the championships came in the men’s 4×100 meter relay. Three freshman in Aaron Straight, Kevin Yeung. and Ian Alberts, along with Chepchieng captured a seventh-place finish in a time of 46.90, giving Evansville two more points to add to its tally.
In the women’s triple jump, freshman Lizzy Walston led the way for Evansville, finishing in 11th with a jump of 9.87 meters.
A pair of Aces represented Evansville’s men in the men’s discus as freshman Chris Zapata (39.04 meters) edged junior Ryan Freeman (36.44 meters) as the two finished back-to-back in 15th and 16th, respectively. For the Aces’ women, freshman Brittany Corley earned an 18th-place finish in the women’s discus with a throw of 34.70 meters.
The Aces’ women broke a program record in the women’s 4×400 meters as the team of freshmen Lizzy Walston, Lauren Meyer, and Anna Lowry and junior Sienna Crews earned a ninth-place finish in a time of 4:11.20. On the men’s side, Evansville also finished in ninth as freshmen Stanley Chepchieng, Ethan Price, and Ian Alberts and sophomore Ricky Hendrix crossed the line in a time of 3:35.74.
For the Aces, UE’s men finished in ninth at the MVC Championships, finishing with four team points. In all, both teams combined to break six program records over the course of the three-day championship.
Illinois State captured the MVC women’s outdoor track and field championship, holding a 31.5-point margin over Southern Illinois and Indiana State, who tied for second. Northern Iowa earned the MVC men’s track and field championship with a total of 170 points, defeating second-place finishing Illinois State by just one point.
