West Central Reporter

WIU Track & Field has announced the addition of 11 new athletes to its 2025 roster, including two mid-year transfers and nine signees. The announcement comes as part of an effort by the coaching staff to strengthen the team and compete in the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC).

"Being our first year here as a staff we were very aggressive with this first group of signees going after what we thought could be a group to get us in contention in the OVC," said WIU Coach Scott Barnes. He praised his colleagues for their recruitment efforts: "Coach Matt Rosado did an amazing job in really beefing up our distance roster and we are bringing in some very top notch talent. Coach Tom Unruh and Coach Ben Jeferies have done outstanding jobs in their fields as well with Bringing in some top notch sprinters and Vaulters."

The new additions include Caley Murphy, a sophomore transfer from Dakota Wesleyan University, who had notable performances during her collegiate career. She competed in both cross country and track events, setting several personal records.

Jack Knoll joins from Dordt University as a sprinter with strong performances both indoors and outdoors during his previous season.

Freshmen recruits include Chloe Amburgey from Indiana, Marissa Shute from Minnesota, Finley Hancock from Iowa, Brody Harker from Illinois, Deana Hudson from Ohio, Linnea Bloom also from Iowa, Evan Eberhart from Illinois, Kelly Fern specializing in pole vaulting from Wisconsin, and Lily Patterson another distance runner hailing from Ohio.

These student-athletes will begin their tenure at WIU starting the fall semester of 2025. They bring various accolades ranging across state championships qualifications to school record-setting performances.

"We have more to come but this was a great step for this program," added Coach Barnes. "We look to take this talent with our returning group and start building what we think can be a championship caliber team."

For updates on Leatherneck Track & Field activities or further information on these recruits' progressions within the sport at Western Illinois University (WIU), fans are encouraged to visit GoLeathernecks.com or follow them on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook.