West Central Reporter

The Western Illinois track and field program has shown significant progress in recent years. Once having only one qualifier for the Drake Relays, the Leathernecks recently had a travel party of 28 athletes at the event in Des Moines.

Jumpers and relay teams were at the forefront for Western Illinois during their time at the Drake Relays. Aliyah Adams achieved notable results with a third-place finish in the women's championship triple jump and a second-place finish in the college/university long jump, where she set a new personal best.

Toriano Tate made his mark by setting a personal best in the men's long jump, securing second place with a leap of 24 feet, 9.25 inches. Alessandro Belluz also participated in this event, finishing 17th.

Renee Raglin performed well in the women's long jump, achieving third place with her best attempt. On the track, several relay teams from Western Illinois set new records or placed high in their events.

The women's sprint medley relay team broke a program record with their performance, while the men's team secured sixth place historically for Western Illinois. The women's distance medley relay team and men's distance relay team both achieved times that placed them among the top performances in program history.

In other events, Arnie Grunert finished fourth in men's pole vault, Jasmine Stokes placed 20th in women's hammer throw, and Sophia Myers competed strongly but did not advance to finals in two hurdles events.

The Leathernecks' next competition will be at the Iowa State Alumni Open on Friday.