University of Southern Indiana’s men’s track & field team was dominant in the mile while freshman Kyle Crone put together a career day in the field events at the Greyhound Invitational Saturday.

The Screaming Eagles were able to notch two top-ten finishes in the 800 meters. Senior Javan Winders was USI’s top finisher in the event coming in fourth with a time well under the two-minute mark at 1 minute, 57.48 seconds. Sophomore teammate, Madison King grabbed ninth with a time of 2:02.54.

The Eagles excelled in the 3000m as a team claiming four of out of the top ten spots; three out of the top eight. Junior Gavin Prior led the way with a time of 8:54.88, earning him a fourth-place finish. Juniors Grady Wilkinson, Sean Hughes followed in line with marks of 8:57.46 and 9:08.12, good for sixth and eighth place, respectively. Freshman Will Sims snuck into the top ten with a time of 9:18.26 which rewarded him with ninth place.

The mile proved to be USI’s best event collectively; as their top-five finishers not only placed in the top ten, they also ran times all under 4 minutes and 35 seconds. Junior Nathan Hall paced the Eagles by winning the event with a time of 4:20.94. Junior Wyat Harmon followed close behind Hall as he came in second with a time of 4:22.52. Freshman Oneel Occenat just stayed under the 4:30:00 barrier, with a time of 4:29.98 which earned Occenat a fourth-place finish. Sophomores Cameron Cox and Taylor Mills added to impressive showing with times of 4:32.72 and 4:34.99 giving them the sixth and ninth spot, respectively.

In the field events, USI had six top-five finishes between three different events.

Crone, the star of the meet, finished second in the triple jump with a mark of 41 feet, 11.5 inches. Crone’s triple jump mark made him school record holder, besting Tyrell Nickelson’s mark from 2018. Zack Gresens followed Crone with a leap of 38’ 6”, nabbing third place.

Nickelson added a third-place finish in the high jump with a leap of 6’ 4.75” and Crone came in fifth place with a mark of 6’ 2.75”.

Crone was also the top USI finisher in the long jump with a leap of 20’ 9.75” good for fifth place for the meet, and third all-time in USI history. Gresens came next with his own mark of 19’ 6.25” to give him eighth place.

Other Notables: The Eagles were recently ranked 30th in the new USTFCCCA Poll that was released last week, Tuesday.

University of Southern Indiana’s Jennifer Comastri and Aubrey Swart both won their respective events at the Greyhound Invitational.

Junior Comastri ran a blazing time in the mile, 4 minutes, 56.88 seconds to claim the event. Comastri’s mile time was also good for an NCAA II provisional qualifying mark as she got under the 4:58.73 threshold. Comastri’s time makes her the 16th fastest woman in NCAA II as well as third all-time in the USI record books. Freshman Mckenna Cavanaugh followed behind Comastri with a time of 5:17.08, good for third place. Senior Hope-Jones and Freshman Hadley Fisher rounded out the top five with times of 5:19.91 and 5:22.05, respectively.

Aubrey Swart had an impressive outing in the 3000m as she claimed the top spot in the event with a time of 10:42.84.

In the field events, the Screaming Eagles posted two top-ten finishers.

First, freshman Miranda Anslinger vaulted 4 feet, 11 inches in the high jump, which gave her seventh in the event.

Also, freshman Cassie Janas finished 10th in the weight throw with a toss of 43’ 1.5”. Janas’s weight throw mark moved her to fifth all-time in USI history.

Other Notables: The USI women’s track & field team is currently ranked 22nd in the latest USTFCCCA poll which was released last week, Tuesday. The Eagles are one of three teams from the GLVC ranked in the top-25 ranked behind Southwest Baptist in seventh and Indianapolis in fifth overall.

University of Southern Indiana’s Jennifer Comastri and Aubrey Swart both won their respective events at the Greyhound Invitational.

Junior Comastri ran a blazing time in the mile, 4 minutes, 56.88 seconds to claim the event. Comastri’s mile time was also good for an NCAA II provisional qualifying mark as she got under the 4:58.73 threshold. Comastri’s time makes her the 16th fastest woman in NCAA II as well as third all-time in the USI record books. Freshman Mckenna Cavanaugh followed behind Comastri with a time of 5:17.08, good for third place. Senior Hope Jones and Freshman Hadley Fisher rounded out the top five with times of 5:19.91 and 5:22.05, respectively.

Aubrey Swart had an impressive outing in the 3000m as she claimed the top spot in the event with a time of 10:42.84.

In the field events, the Screaming Eagles posted two top-ten finishers.

First, freshman Miranda Anslinger vaulted 4 feet, 11 inches in the high jump, which gave her seventh in the event.

Also, freshman Cassie Janas finished 10th in the weight throw with a toss of 43’ 1.5”. Janas’s weight throw mark moved her to fifth all-time in USI history.

Other Notables: The USI women’s track & field team is currently ranked 22nd in the lastest USTFCCCA poll which was released last week, Tuesday. The Eagles are one of three teams from the GLVC ranked in the top-25 ranked behind Southwest Baptist in seventh and Indianapolis in fifth overall.

The University of Evansville’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams closed out the regular season with a strong performance at Southern Illinois, Saturday afternoon.

Zeke Metz earned an event title in the 500-yard freestyle with a 4:45.66 time, while Austin Smith took third with a 4:49.11 event finish.

Ee E Tan posted a second place 1000-yard freestyle time of 9:53.02, while Samad Abu-Shamab took fifth in the event at 10:32.25.

Sonsoles Aguayo captured second place at 1:57.68 in the 200-yard freestyle, while Andrea Ramis (2:01.13) and Sarah Jans (2:02.11) took fifth and sixth respectively in the event.

Paul Cozzens took down a 1:57.70 200-yard IM time finishing in second, while also taking fifth place in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:03.58.

Alaina Sylvester (1:09.38), Sage Moore (1:10.56) and Allison McDonald (1:11.44) took second through fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke.

In diving Fae Keighley took fourth place on the 3-meter board with a 224.70 score, while Maggie Franz earned third in 1-meter with a 237.89 score.

The Purple Aces now ready for the Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Championship, Feb. 19-22 held in Columbia, Mo., while the men will set for the Mid-American Conference Championship March 4-7 back in Carbondale, Ill.

Aces fight to the finish against conference leaders

 A trio of Purple Aces led the way with 14 points with the University of Evansville men’s basketball team putting up a stellar fight before finishing the day with an 80-68 loss to MVC-leading UNI on Saturday at the Ford Center.

Trailing by 14 at halftime, Evansville (9-14, 0-10 MVC) made its first eight attempts in the second half to get within four points before UNI (19-3, 8-2 MVC) overcame the challenge to finish off the win.

Evan Kuhlman tied his career mark with 14 points, knocking down an efficient five out of seven field goal attempts.  Sam Cunliffe and K.J. Riley matched his point total, combining to hit 11 shots.  Riley added four free throws to his season tally with his squad combining to his 13 out of 16 attempts.  UE shot 26.9% in the opening 20 minutes before knocking down 69.2% of their tries in the latter period.

“I am very thankful to be part of it and coach these guys – they are really good people,” Aces head coach Todd Lickliter explained following the game.  “I did not think the first half was all that bad, we generated some good shots and if they went down, it would have been a better half.”

“At the break, I told them that I was thankful that they guarded so hard because the way things were going offensively, the only chance we had was to guard and we did a nice job of that,” Lickliter added.  “I knew that the shots would start to fall.”

A defensive struggle ensued in the first half with UNI making a late rally to go to the half with a 30-16 advantage.  The teams combined for a 1-6 offensive start before the Panthers got on track with six in a row to go up 8-2.  UNI got on track and used a 6-for-12 start to go up 14-5 as the midway point of the half approached.

Evansville cut into the deficit with an Evan Kuhlman free throw and a bucket by John Hall that made it a 14-8 contest.  That is when defense took over.  For a stretch of five minutes, the squads hit just two out of 22 attempts before UNI snapped out of the stretch with back-to-back layups that gave them their first double digit lead with 4:11 left, forcing an Aces time out.

Jawaun Newton and Sam Cunliffe responded with baskets that got the Aces back within seven points (19-12), but over the final 2:35 of the half, the Panthers outscored the Aces by an 11-4 margin to take the 14-point halftime lead.

The offense for the Purple Aces came out on fire in the second half, hitting its first eight shots while getting within four points of the Panthers.  UNI posted the first two points of the half before Evan Kuhlman nailed UE’s first 3-pointer of the game.  Cunliffe followed up with another before a pair of Kuhlman free throws cut the deficit back to single digits – 35-26 – just over two minutes in.

UE got even closer, utilizing a 7-0 run that was capped off by a 3-point play from Riley two minutes later that made it a 38-33 game.  With 14:52 left in the contest, Jawaun Newton added to Evansville’s blazing second half, hitting a triple that brought UE within four at 40-36.  Evansville did not miss its first shot of the half until 7:13 had gone by.

One of the defining moments for UNI came right after UE made it a 4-point game.  A Trae Berhow 3-pointer started an 8-0 run that pushed their lead back out to 12.  The lead for the Panthers was pushed out to 13 points with just over eight minutes left before the Aces made another push.  A quick 6-0 run saw the gap trimmed to seven points with 6:16 on the clock, but the Panthers answered each time.

In the end, UNI was able to fend off the challenge to take the 80-68 victory.  Evansville overcame a tough first half that saw them shoot 26.9%, rebounding to hit 18 out of 26 attempts in the final 20 minutes – 69.2% – to finish the game at 48.1%.  The Panthers wrapped up the day shooting 50%.  UNI had a slight 30-28 edge in the final rebounding tally.  Austin Phyfe was 6-for-6 from the field on his way to a team-high 16 points while AJ Green and Berhow notched 15 each.

On Wednesday, UE is back home to welcome Southern Illinois to the Ford Center for a 6 p.m. game.