ST. LOUIS – Following its fourth consecutive indoor title last season, the Illinois State women's track & field team has been selected to finish first in the Missouri Valley Conference Coaches' Preseason Poll, while the Redbird men were tabbed with a second-place finish, as announced by the league on Wednesday afternoon.
The Redbird women secured a league-high 100 points, sweeping all ten first-place votes. Southern Illinois (82) and Indiana State (78) round out the top-3 on the women's side.
With their title last season, the Redbird women made history, becoming the first women's team in conference history to win four-consecutive MVC indoor titles.
Seniors Mya Robinson and Kameesha Smith, who each captured MVC titles last season, return for the Redbirds. Robinson captured the individual title in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.68 seconds, the first championship of her career.
Kameesha Smith won her second-straight indoor conference title in the high jump and broke the school record in the event with a clearance of 1.83 meters (6-0 ft.). Smith would go on to compete at the NCAA Championships, where she notched a tenth-place finish in the high jump to earn Second Team All-America honors.
In addition to the individual titles, all four members of the women's 4x400-meter relay – Destiny White, Mattie Lieb, Audrey Harrod and Jaclyn Greci – return and look to defend their title.
In the men's poll, UNI was selected to finish first among the league's nine programs with 76 total points and six first-place votes. The Illinois State men were close behind, garnering 71 total points and three first-place votes. Indiana State (62) was selected to finish third overall.
In the 2021 indoor campaign, the Illinois State men notched a third-place finish, behind UNI and Indiana State. The Redbird men return four MVC indoor individual champions in Brandon Gage (400m), Riley Wells (800m), Jake Gillum (Mile) and Caleb Miedema (Heptathlon).
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The Redbirds open the 2021-22 indoor campaign on Saturday, Dec. 4, as they host the John Coughlan Invite at Horton Fieldhouse in Normal, Illinois. The indoor home meet is the first since the 2019-20 season.
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December 02, 2021 at 04:14AM
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Redbird Women Picked First, Men Second in MVC Indoor Preseason Poll - Illinois State Athletics
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