The Illinois State University track and field teams finished second at the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Indoor Championships held Monday at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. The Redbird women’s team scored 142.5 points, while the men’s team earned 151.5 points. ISU athletes won eight event titles during the meet.
Director of Cross Country & Track and Field Jeff Bovee commented on the team’s performance: “I’m very proud of both teams, as we battled hard all the way down to the final and last event. It’s hard to come up just a few points short, but we out-performed the pre-championship poll in the field and on the track. We had many stellar individual and relay event champions and are fortunate to get another crack at team titles in just over two months.”
A notable achievement for Illinois State was sweeping the top three spots in both the women’s 60m hurdles and men’s 200m dash—something not previously accomplished by the program at an MVC Championship. Macee Rivers secured first place in the women’s 60m hurdles with a time of 8.36 seconds, becoming ISU’s first champion in that event since 2021, and was named Women’s Most Outstanding Track Performer. Nya Browne finished second (8.37), followed by Erin Starks in third (8.45).
On the men’s side, Enyiannaya Nwagwu won the 200m dash with a time of 20.99 seconds, marking ISU’s first title in this event since 2018. Zach Paul took silver with a personal best of 21.11 seconds, while Reece Curtis earned bronze with a career-best of 21.13 seconds.
The women’s 4×400 relay team—composed of Starks, Chavi Flowers, Lindsey Miller, and Temi-Tope Olusesan—finished first with a time of 3:44.23.
Astor Snaider claimed gold in the men’s triple jump with a mark of 15.19 meters, which places him eighth in program history for that event. Becca Heitzig won her first MVC title in the women’s 800m run with a time of 2:08.74.
Other strong performances included Lindsey Miller earning silver in the women’s 60m finals (7.39) and placing fourth in the 200m; Starks placed seventh in that race as well.
In men’s sprints, Paul took silver in the men’s 60m finals (6.68), narrowly missing first place by three milliseconds; Curtis finished fourth (6.77), Nwagwu sixth, and Jaiden Reed seventh.
The men’s 4×400 relay team—Jake Welch, Curtis, Paul, and Nwagwu—took third place with a time of 3:11.97.
In distance events, Pauline Schedler earned silver in the women’s mile (4:40.61), ranking second all-time for ISU; Heitzig placed fourth (4:43.74). On the men’s side, Cayde de Waal finished fifth (4:09.94). Colleen Zeibert joined Heitzig on the podium for women’s 800m by taking bronze (2:12.32). Mattison Plummer placed fourth in women’s 3000m (9:34.87), while Julian Baker won gold for men’s 3000m (8:09.33).
Ryan Schaefer took silver in men’s heptathlon with a career-best score of 5,280 points—the second-highest total ever for an ISU athlete.
In field events, Victor Byaundaombe placed fifth in men’s triple jump (14.64 meters); Ava Lawless finished third on women’s side with a personal best jump of 11.99 meters.
For throws events, Kiera Fax was tenth among women shot putters (12.65 meters). In men’s shot put four Redbirds ranked within top ten; Jacob Klink led them finishing fifth (17.59 meters).
Illinois State Redbirds benefit from support through initiatives like the Redbird Athletics Excellence Fund, which aids competitiveness and recruitment efforts for their NCAA Division I programs across multiple regions (source). The teams also utilize facilities such as the OSF HealthCare Athletics Training Center for athlete preparation (source). The university provides resources including news updates and schedules to strengthen its athletic community (source).
