“We had a good day today,” said UE track and field head coach Don Walters. “We had a lot of PRs set, and I think that the student-athletes had a lot of fun today.
“We faced some really good competition, and we had people rise to the occasion, and when you consider our week of practice was interrupted with all of the weather issues this week, we’ll take it.”
Dove broke teammate Mike Boots’ (Evansville, Ind./Mater Dei) previous school record in the 35-pound weight throw by over two feet, as Dove recorded a throw of 16.41 meters (53.83 feet) to place seventh overall. It marked the fourth school record broken this season by the UE track and field teams in just three indoor meets.
“Zach’s throw was impressive, but it is also something that he is capable of,” said Walters. “He is a big guy, and he faced some really good competition today, and he answered the call.”
Graduate student Anna Lowry (Taylorville, Ill./Taylorville) also picked up her third individual victory of the season with a win in the mile with a time of 5:02.33, while the team of seniors Trey Riggs (Ft. Branch, Ind./Gibson Southern) and Brendon Smith (Newburgh, Ind./Castle), junior Steven Burkhart and freshman Adam Oulgout (St. Paul, Minn./Central) capped the meet with a win by almost three seconds in the men’s 4×400-meter relay event.
“Anna was tested today, but she answered the challenge,” said Walters. “And, the 4×4 win was pretty impressive considering this was the first time that group has really been together this year. That’s a good sign going forward into the spring.”
Dove’s school-record toss also led a group of 11 personal-best marks set on the afternoon by UE. Senior Sam Weldon (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Bishop Dwenger) nearly broke the women’s indoor 800-meter record with a personal-best time of 2:24.96 while placing fifth in the event. She also set a new personal-best mark in the mile at 5:28.18 to finish sixth behind Lowry.
Oulgout ran his best mile time of the year, while finishing second in the men’s mile by just 0.25 seconds with a time of 4:32.86. Sophomore Peter Epur (Eldoret, Kenya) also posted his best mile time at 4:35.25 while placing fourth.
Junior Jackson Maurer (Evansville, Ind./Gibson Southern) made it three meets in a row with a personal-best indoor mark in the 400-meter event, placing fifth with a time of 55.42. Freshman Denzel Lasam (St. Louis, Mo./De Smet Jesuit) posted the third-best triple jump mark in school history at 13.19 meters to place fifth, while also running his fastest 200-meter time of the year. Sophomore Luke Watts (Austin, Ind./Austin) ran his fastest 800-meter time while at UE, while freshmen Preston Riggs (Ft. Branch, Ind./Gibson Southern) and Ellie Stewart (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard South) set new standards in the 200- and 3,000-meter events respectively.
Evansville will take the next week off from competition, before returning to action on Saturday, February 19 at the Indiana State Open in Terre Haute, Indiana.
