Feb. 11, 2012

Complete Results

AMES, Iowa - Ioana Citireag lowered her already impressive career-best time in the 800 meters placing second for the SIUE women's track and field team at the Iowa State Classic.

"It was an exciting meet," said SIUE Head Coach Kareem Jackson. "All our athletes performed well. They had to rise to the occasion with such great competition at the meet."

Citireag continued to drop her time in her favorite event setting a personal best by more than one second with a second-place time of 2 minutes, 12.08 seconds.

"Ioana is a leader by example," said Jackson. "She brings a wealth of knowledge and training experience to this team. She lives for moments like this."

Citireag recorded one of 10 personal bests for the Cougars over the weekend.

Aftan Noon (2:13.67) and Dede Lofton (2:13.79) won their respective flights in the 800 meters and finished eighth and 10th overall.

The trio later teamed with Hilary Conrad en route to an 11th-place finish in the distance medley relay with a time of 12:20.55, nearly nine seconds faster than the group's previous best.

Conrad started her day running the fastest time this year for the Cougars in the 400 meters at 57.42 earning 13th place overall.

In the 200 meters, Kaya Senaya also ran an SIUE season best finishing 14th in a time of 25.23.

Freshman Jatavia Wright followed her 12th-place finish Friday in the pentathlon by placing third in the long jump leaping 18 feet, 3.75 inches, the best for SIUE in 2012.

Wright also qualified for the finals in the 60 hurdles with a preliminary time of 8.80 before placing 11th in the finals.

Michelle Higgins turned in a third-place performance in the triple jump with a mark of 38-2.75.

Elizabeth Hampl won her flight in the weight throw to place 15th overall with a best toss of 52-7.5. She later placed 12th in the shot put throwing 42-0.75.

Right behind the freshman was junior Kristin Wykoff who won her shot put flight with a mark of 41-11.5 to finish 13th overall.

"I am pleased with our performance this week, but we still know there are areas we need to continue working," added Jackson. "We are getting closer as a team to having all event groups executing at their best."

The Cougars will continue their training over the upcoming weeks as they prepare to close the indoor season.

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