CHARLESTON, Ill. (April 9, 2021) – Freshman Lovie Annafi continued a breakout debut season as the Loyola University Chicago track & field teams competed at the Big Blue Classic in Charleston, Ill. today.
 
"I was glad Eastern Illinois moved the meet to Friday since we caught some good weather," Loyola head track & field coach Bob Thurnhoffer stated.  "We brought a small group, but got some great work in.  Lovie had a nice breakthrough in the long jump, while Jana (Rokitta) continued her rapid development in the high jump.  Molly (Reighard) looks like a real contender in the 400m hurdles, and Ilhame is making winning look easy.  On the men's side, Tim (Harris) had a great hurdles race.  His development is going well.  Eran (Siboni) looks sharp in the 200m dash and Jevan (Terry) had a big day in both the 100m and 200m dashes.  Chantz (Visse) and Nick (Chudzik) had nice runs in the 5,000m as well."
 
Annafi turned in a pair of standout efforts today at O'Brien Field.  The Chicago, Ill. product kicked off her day in the long jump, where she registered a top leap of 18-03.75 (5.58m), tied for the fifth longest jump in program history, en route to placing fifth overall.  Annafi was right back at it later on in the evening, earning a runner-up finish in the triple jump at 37-06.50 (11.44m) to climb to eighth all-time in Rambler annals.
 
Elsewhere in the field, junior Ilhame Tamrouti picked up a third consecutive win in the javelin, posting a top effort of 142-06 (43.43m).  For the second time in her last three outings, fellow junior Jana Rokitta matched her personal best in the high jump, clearing 5-07.00 (1.70m) to land third overall.
 
As was the case at last Friday's Redbird Invitational, senior Molly Reighard and junior Eran Siboni both shined for the Maroon & Gold on the track.
 
Out of Minnetrista, Minn., Reighard narrowly missed out on matching her 400m hurdles personal best that was set last week, as she came across in 1:02.33 to earn a runner-up finish.  Freshman Madi McLain also turned in a strong effort in the event, checking in seventh at 1:08.17.  On the men's side of the event, sophomore Timothy Harris came within three tenths of a second of climbing into the program's top 10, claiming a fourth-place finish in 55.50.
 
Siboni, a native of Jerusalem, Israel, rolled to his second straight win in the 200m dash, racing through in 21.67.  Freshman Jevan Terry turned heads in the event as well, crossing in 21.99 to finish one spot back of Siboni in second.  Terry was just as impressive in the 100m dash, where he broke the 11-second mark for the first time, finishing eighth in 10.94.  Senior Denee' Lawrence led the charge for Loyola's women's sprints crew, taking second (12.08) and fourth (24.84), respectively, in the 100m and 200m dashes.
 
In the men's distance events, senior Demetri Panici took home a runner-up finish in the 1,500m run, as he posted a time of 3:56.12.  Fellow senior Derek Rink also finished in the top five in the event, checking in fourth at 3:58.07.  The junior pairing of Chantz Visse (7^th; 14:55.35) and Nick Chudzik (9^th; 14:57.32) both came in under the 15-minute mark in the 5,000m run, while senior Wes Heal closed out the night by claiming third in the 10,000m run in 32:34.54.
 
"Overall, there are some technical things we need to clean up, but our progress has been good up to this point in the season," Thurnhoffer concluded.  "These next four weeks of training and competing will be huge heading into championship season."
 
Loyola is back in action next weekend at the Gibson Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind., April 16-17.