ELSAH, IL – The Principia Track & Field teams head into the SLIAC Indoor Championship this Saturday, February 24 at home in the Crafton Athletic Center. The 2024 indoor track season has been a season of progress and strong effort for the Panthers.
The season started back in December at the Indiana University Early Bird meet before taking time off for winter break. A small group competed at the historic Harry Gladstein Fieldhouse on the banked track. In the long jump, Howard James finished 9th with a jump of 6.4m (21' 5"), which is still the second longest jump in the conference heading into the championship. The meet was a great experience for the runners to compete with Division I competition in a historic and competitive environment.
The Panthers competed at Washburn University for another opportunity on a banked track at the Washburn Rust Buster on January 20. Amarachi Ejimadu posted strong performances in the 60m and 200m in her first collegiate races. She is on the edge of Principia's all-time top three list in those events. Myka Fenton also ran her first college races at Washburn in the 800m and Mile, putting up strong early season times. Dillon Hussey ran a strong race in the 600 yard, posting the fastest known time by a Principia athlete (because no records have been found of a Principia runner racing the 600 yard race).
The next event on the schedule was the annual Prin Relays meet hosted in Principia's Crafton Athletic Center. This was the largest Prin Relays meet on record with 22 colleges and a total of nearly 450 athletes competing this year. In the 4x400, Joy Onyechi, Amarachi Ejimadu, Sarah Erickson, and Myka Fenton ran an impressive race that is currently the fourth fastest time in the conference with 4:44. The men finished third of eleven teams in the 4x400 at the Relays meet with a time of 3:41, which is currently third in the conference behind Webster and Greenville. The men's DMR time of 11:35 at Prin Relays is currently fourth in the conference (Zach Proctor, Dillon Hussey, Jimmy Woodrow, Aaron Nutwell). Fenton is also currently eighth in the conference in the Mile after she fiinished with a time of 6:05.
The last meet that Principia competed in prior to the upcoming conference meet was the Titan Open at Illinois Wesleyan University on February 10. In a strong field of competition, the Panthers performed well with several season best and personal best performances. Zach Proctor ran a personal best in the mile with a 4:46 (eleventh in the SLIAC). In the 400m, Nana Koranteng ran 51.96 to place 6th of 44 runners in the event (fourth in the SLIAC). Also in the 400m, Dillon Hussey's time of 53.7 ranks eleventh for the SLIAC men, while Amarachi Ejimadu's time of 1:07.3 ranks ninth for the SLIAC women.
The SLIAC Championship meet on Saturday will be an opportunity for the teams to show the hard work they have put in this season and compete with the strongest field that the conference has put on the track in recent years. With the addition of Lyon and MUW to the SLIAC, as well as improving teams across the conference, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th positions in the team standings will be tightly contested. Greenville still maintains a tight hold on the conference championship with the large number of athletes and quality performances that they bring to the meet. Principia finished in third place for both the men and women at last year's conference indoor meet, and though it will be a bigger challenge for that position this year, the Panthers will enter the championship ready to compete.
