EVANSVILLE, Ind. - On a record-setting weekend, the University of Evansville men’s and women’s track and field teams found success in their second meet of the season at the Don DeNoon Invitational in Carbondale, Ill. hosted by Southern Illinois.

In all, five program records were broken by the Aces including one record which had stood since 1985.

To open the weekend, the Aces had four athletes compete on Friday night. Freshman Ian Alberts led Evansville with an eighth-place finish with a height of 3.85 meters while fellow freshman Kevin Yeung finished without recording a height. In the women’s long jump, freshman Lizzy Walston set a program record with a ninth-place finish with a distance of 4.51 meters. Junior Hayley Elliot also competed in the women’s long jump, finishing in 12th with a distance of 3.49 meters. Yeung pulled double duty for the Aces, earning a 16th-place finish in the men’s long jump with a distance of 5.07 meters.

A full slate of events for the Aces began on Saturday morning with the men’s and women’s shot put. Freshman Brittany Corley was the lone Aces in the women’s shot put, finishing in 31st with a distance of 8.64 meters. Three Aces competed in the men’s shot put, led by junior Ryan Freeman who broke a 32-year old record with a throw of 12.62 meters, besting Tim Blocker’s record by .36 meters, earning a 16th-place finish. Senior Clay Doty (21st) and sophomore Chris Zapata (22nd) both grabbed impressive finishes with Doty besting Zapata by just .25 meters.

Next up for Evansville were the men’s and women’s 60-meter dash where the Aces had one sprinter in each competition. In the women’s 60-meter dash, freshman Nikki Hutchcraft crossed the line in 30th breaking her own program record with a time of 8.23 seconds. On the men’s side, freshman Aaron Straight finished in 11.48 seconds in 35th.

Some of the most impressive performances of the weekend came in the men’s and women’s mile run. On the women’s side, freshman Anna Lowry shattered the Aces’ program record by nearly 35 seconds while capturing a 25th-place finish in the 50 runner field. The Aces men’s team was led by freshman Ricky Hendrix (4:39.77) in 34th while fellow freshmen Tyler Frields-Reifsteck (4:45.96), Timmy Miller (4:58.88), and Grant Mangan (5:24.77) finished in 37th, 42nd, and 46th, respectively.

Swimming and diving have concluded their regular season with a loss a Southern Illinois this afternoon.

On the men’s side, the Salukis scored 157 points, the Aces 79. For the women, the Salukis earned 166 points to the Aces’ 72.

“It was a tough meet,” said head coach Rickey Perkins. “But it was fun. I’m happy with the overall effort. It’s a tough time of the season, a couple weeks before conference, and everyone is tired and beaten up. But we’ll overcome, I’m sure of that.

Sophomore Brandt Hudson was the top performer for the Aces. He started his afternoon with a 3^rd place finish in the 1000 freestyle with a final time of 9:47.04. Sophomore Zack Sagan followed in 4^th place with a 10:44.04. Hudson then proceeded to clock in a 55.73 in the 100 backstroke for the runner up spot. Freshman Austin Smith earned 3^rd place with 59.42.

Sophomore Paul Cozzens took a runner up place as well, his with a 53.08 100 butterfly. Sagan took 3^rd place with 54.69. Cozzens took another 2^nd place in the 100 breaststroke with a final time of 1:01.83. Junior Andrew Schroeder placed 4^th, clocking in a 1:03.13.

Freshman Eli James continued the trend for Evansville, scoring 47.46 in the 100 freestyle for 2^nd place. Senior Keystone Marcy took 3^rdwith 51.99. Freshman Credence Pattinson took 2^nd place in the 500 freestyle with a final time of 5:00.29. In 3^rd place was junior Jared Sutphin at a 5:13.90.

The men’s 200 Freestyle Relay ended the day consistently, taking 2^nd place. Hudson, Sagan, and freshman Austin Davidson and Ryan Wood teamed up to record a 1:31.13.

Junior Kristen Myers took the first top 3 place of the afternoon for the women with a 3^rd place finishing 55.29 100 freestyle. Senior Danielle Freeman came next with a 2^nd place 50 butterfly ending at 26.39, followed by freshman Andrea Ramis in 3^rd with 28.03.

Junior Kaylee Gubricky took a runner up in the 50 freestyle with a final time of 24.74, followed by freshman Kasey O’Rourke at 26.05 for 3^rd. Sophomore Emma Hennessy placed 2^nd in the 50 backstroke, clocking in a 29.70. Freshman Danielle Baugh proceeded to grab 3^rd place with 31.11.

Junior Madi Jones took another 2^nd place for the women in the 250 freestyle, touching in at 2:37.22. Sophomore Ashton Adams followed up with a 2:38.22 for 3^rd. Sophomore Alaina Sylvester placed 2^nd as well in the 50 breaststroke, clocking a 32.22. Gubricky returned to the pool to take 3^rd place at 32.90.

The women’s 100 Freestyle Relay took 2^nd place; Baugh, freshman Grace Cullen, junior Sam Gowdy, and Hennessy clocked a 48.52 together.

On the diving side, senior Cory Barnes led the men on 1-Meter, taking 2^nd place with 230.85 points, with junior Miguel Marcano’s 223.79 points earning 4^th place. Marcano came back with 262.43 points for 3^rd place on 3-Meter, while Barnes placed 4^th with 220.65.

Senior Courtney Coverdale took 4^th place on 1-Meter with 248.99 points; freshman Natalie Gerard followed with 223.49 for 5^th. The two stayed consistent for 3-meter, with Coverdale again taking 4^th with 232.80 points and Gerard 5^th with 189.15.

With the conclusion of the meet, the Aces now enter championship season. The women will be Iowa City February 14-17 for the MVC Championships. The men will head to Oxford, Ohio February 28-March 3 for the MAC Championships.

UE returns home to face Valparaiso on Wednesday 

For the fourth game in a row, University of Evansville junior Ryan Taylor reached the 20-point mark as the Purple Aces men’s basketball team dropped a 75-71 game to Illinois State on Saturday afternoon inside Redbird Arena.

Taylor had his best game of the season for Evansville (15-10, 5-7 MVC), completing the game with 32 points on 10-of-22 shooting and an impressive 8-12 day from outside.  Blake Simmons and Noah Frederking had nine points apiece while Dainius Chatkevicius posted eight points and a game and career high of 14 boards.

“Give Illinois State credit, they made the plays when they needed to,” UE head coach Marty Simmons said.  “It came down to execution late in the game, but I am proud of our guys, they battled back and played hard.  They came here with a good mentality and never gave up.”

Three Redbirds (13-11, 7-5 MVC) hit double figures as Phil Fayne, Milik Yarbrough and Matt Hein posted 13 apiece.  Fayne also had 10 rebounds.

Illinois State opened the game by scoring the first seven points of the day.  Capping the stretch was a trey from Madison Williams.  K.J. Riley got UE on the board with a bucket three minutes in, but a 2-for-10 start from the floor by the Aces helped ISU take a 15-4 lead.  They hit five of their first eight shots.

Ryan Taylor’s first triple of the game made it a 15-7 game at the 13:30 mark, but the early streak by the Redbirds continued when a Keyshawn Evans long ball marked the largest first-half lead at 25-12.

Facing the early double-digit road deficit, the Aces worked their way back, using a 16-4 run to cut the deficit to a point at 29-28.  Duane Gibson made his way back onto the floor after missing the last four games and his basket with six minutes remaining cut the gap back into single digits.  Three minutes later, a Riley free throw made it a one-possession game before John Hall capped off the run with a tip-in as UE rallied all the way back within a point to make it a 29-28 game.

UE had a few chances to take the lead in the final minutes but the deficit remained at one as Illinois State took a 34-33 advantage into the break.

In the first possession of the second half, Taylor’s fourth basket of the day gave UE its first lead of 35-34.  He connected on another a few seconds later to push the lead to 37-34.  Illinois State tied it up three minutes in on a triple by Taylor Bruninga.

Seven minutes into the final period, the game remained tied at 45-45.  That is when Illinois State took over, posting the next seven points including a Bruninga triple to open up a 52-45 lead at the midway point of the half.  The long ball helped UE get right back in it as back-to-back treys from Noah Frederking and Taylor cut the gap to one.

A Matt Hein triple with under eight minutes left pushed their lead back to six at 59-53.  With six minutes remaining, Blake Simmons cut the deficit to three, hitting his first 3-pointer of the day with the shot clock winding down.  Four in a row from the charity stripe by Milik Yarbrough pushed the lead back to seven with three minutes left, but consecutive triples by Taylor cut the ISU lead to just four.

Hanging onto a four-point lead, an and-one by ISU seemed to have them looking good, up 71-64, but the Aces had other ideas.  UE continued to battle to the buzzer as two ISU misses at the line turned into another trey by Taylor with his bucket getting Evansville within two points – 73-71.  That was as close as the game would get as the Redbirds finished the day with the 75-71 win.

ISU had a slight shooting advantage, finishing at 42.6% with UE shooting 41.4%.  Evansville outrebounded the Redbirds by a 39-37 final.

New MVC member Valparaiso heads to the Ford Center on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. matchup.