West Central Reporter

Western Illinois University's indoor track and field teams had a notable performance at the Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Meet in Birmingham, Alabama. This marked their first participation in the event, and they achieved significant milestones, including new school records.

Aliyah Adams was a standout for the Leathernecks, securing titles in both the long jump and triple jump. On Wednesday, she won the long jump with a distance of 19 feet, 1.5 inches (5.83 meters), while teammate Renee Raglin followed closely in second place. The following day, Adams claimed victory in the triple jump with a mark of 40-7 (12.37 meters). Nakeita Kessling also contributed by finishing eighth in the same event.

Adams further excelled on the track by earning a silver medal in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.61 seconds, setting a new program record. Bria Armstrong added to the team's points by finishing fifth in this event.

WIU coach Trey Brokaw praised Adams's achievements: "Aliyah capped off an exceptional indoor season by breaking the 60-meter hurdle record, again, and winning both horizontal jumps," he said. He highlighted her strong work ethic and potential to qualify for the NCAA National Championships.

The WIU women's team finished third overall with 78 points—their best performance since 2007—while SEMO took first place with 224 points. The Leatherneck women set another program record in the 4x400 relay with Briza Dure, Nakeita Kessling, Passion Crews, and Jolena Site clocking in at 3:49.76.

"Our women's 4x400 relay school record was really special," Brokaw commented on their achievement.

On the men's side, Western Illinois placed fifth overall with 48 points as Little Rock secured victory with 180 points. Notable performances included Toriano Tate's fourth-place finish in the men's long jump and Arnie Grunert's third-place result in pole vaulting.

Logan Lommel contributed significantly to WIU's score by placing fourth in both the mile and eighth in the men's mile events while Isaac Jones delivered a commendable performance by finishing fourth in the men's 800 meters.

Lucas Burmeister set a new program record for WIU during Wednesday's preliminaries of the men's 200 meters and improved it further during Thursday's finals to secure second place.

Coach Brokaw expressed pride over his teams' efforts: "I was really proud of the way our teams competed this weekend," he stated about their overall accomplishments at this year's conference championship meet—the highest finish for their women's team since 2007—and noted that it was also one of their best scoring results within ten years for men’s team events as well.