Jan. 31, 2014

Meet Results

CHICAGO - The Loyola University Chicago track & field teams finished a successful first day at the Indiana Relays in Bloomington, Ind., wrapping up day one of competition with two event titles. Sophomore Rebecca Stearns brought home a victory in the 600m invitational, finishing in 1:32.22 to narrowly miss her own school record (1:31.17), and Sam Penzenstadler continued to impress, winning the 3,000m in 8:10.97 to move to No. 4 all-time at Loyola. Penzenstadler's time was one of three new top-10 marks on Loyola's all-time record boards after the first day of competition.

"We had a good opening day," said head coach Randy Hasenbank. "Jake (Autio) and Ryan (Van Portfliet) are really coming around, and Sydney (Stuenkel) ran a terrific 3,000m race. Anton (James) was excited to jump, and he looked pretty good in the finals. Rebecca (Stearns) continues to be impressive as she has won the 600m the past two weekends. I think she is ready to move up and run a nice 800m. I am also pleased with the consistency from Mike (Wetzel) and Kevin (Glastetter)."

In the men's 60m dash, Chris Strup took second in his preliminary heat with a time of 6.88. Mike Wetzel was also terrific, posting a time of 7.20 to take sixth in his heat. Elsewhere on the track, Kevin Glastetter led the Ramblers in the 200m dash with a time of 22.61 for a seventh-place finish and was followed by Mike Wetzel, whose time of 22.63 earned him ninth overall.

Nicholas Prajka was also impressive in the men's 600m run, winning his heat with a time of 1:22.58. Moving to the mid-distance, Jake Autio took to the track in his second meet of the year and won his heat in the mile, posting a time of 4:14.58 to place fifth overall.

Antwon James shone for the men's team in the field events, moving to No. 4 all-time at Loyola in the long jump with a distance of 7.05m (23-01.75) after two attempts. With the jump, James placed second in his heat.

On the women's side, Krista Kuss kicked off the sprints with a third-place finish in her 60m dash heat (7.80) and placed sixteenth overall. Kuss also earned a second-place finish in her 200m dash section (26.64), following close behind Jade Kinney, who won her 200m heat with a time of 26.11.

In the 600m dash, Amber Davis performed admirably alongside Stearns, posting a time of 1:35.81 for a third-place finish in her heat. Moving to the long distance, Alyvia Clark boasted a sixth-place finish (4:52.38) in the mile run invitational, and Sydney Stuenkel nabbed fourth-place in the 3,000m run with a time of 9:45.47. Stuenkel's time was enough to move her to No. 4 on the Loyola record boards in the event.

In the women's field events, Nina Madjer posted a distance of 1.55m in the high jump for thirteenth-place, and Lexi Ellis jumped 5.22m for an eighteenth-place finish in the long jump.

Loyola returns to action tomorrow when it completes the second and final day of the Indiana Relays. Both track and field events will begin at 9:00 a.m.