Blue Demons Head to BIG EAST Outdoor Championships

Friday, May 10

Randall's Island, N.Y.

All Day

DePaul University

BIG EAST Outdoor Conference Championships

Blue Demons Head to BIG EAST Outdoor Championships

5/9/2019 4:49:00 PM | TRACK AND FIELD

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The conference meet heads to NYC's Ichan Stadium for first time

CHICAGO – The 2019 BIG EAST Outdoor Track & Field Championships presented by Jeep are set and DePaul looks to continue the success set at last year's event. The conference meet will take place at Ichan Stadium from May 10–11 in Randall's Island, N.Y.

On Friday, field events are slated to begin with the women's hammer throw at 9 a.m. CT. Running events will kick off at noon with the preliminary rounds of the 1,500-meter run. Saturday's events will kick off with women's discus at 10:30 a.m. and the 4x100-meter relay at 11 a.m. CT.

Both days of the 2019 BIG EAST Outdoor Track & Field Championships will be broadcast on the BIG EAST Digital Network presented by SoFi. The broadcasts can be found on Caffeine.TV and the BIG EAST's Twitter (@BIGEAST).

2018 Outdoor Recap
The track & field men's and women's squads combined for nine conference titles during last year's conference meet, including a sweep of the 4x100-meter relay events. The women's team earned its program-best, second-place finish at the same venue last year.

Senior Kyle Decker won his third-straight title in the 110-meter hurdles and Kyle Hedge threw for hold in the men's shot put competition. Brian Mada claimed his third-straight title in the triple jump. Success continued for the men's 4x100-meter relay with the squad comprised of Adam Nelson, Brendan van Voorhis, Isaac Walker and Sebastian Feyersinger who took home the top spot with a time of 41.17.

The women's relay performances dominated the competition as they claimed the title in both the 4x100-meter (Jessica Watkins, Kiersten Walker, Laura Edwards, Alexia Brooks) and 4x400-meter relays (Edwards, Simone Carr, Rutendo Chimbaru, Walker) with a time of 46.14 and 3:43.98, respectively.

On the field for the women, school-record-holder Caroline Muller earned the top spot on the podium with an impressive 1.65-meter high jump. Senior Emily Eller threw a dominating 14.44-shot put performance to earn gold. In the hammer throw, sophomore standout Jade Gates threw a 53.73-meter mark that was good for the crown.

Gates was named the BIG EAST Championship Outstanding Field Performer for her performance in the throws.

Leading the Conference
Heading into the conference meet, 16 men and 15 women rank within the top five competitors in their respective competitions. These rankings are topped by 10 Blue Demons who are currently ranked first in their events.
In the field, seniors Chris Cadet (triple jump) Kyle Hedge (shot put) hold the top spots for the men. For the women's squad, Jade Nolan (triple jump), Emily Eller (shot put) and Jade Gates (hammer) hold the top spots among BIG EAST competitors.

On the track, Henry Larkin (400m), Ashton Colaire (100m hurdles) and the men's 4x100-meter relay team of Isaac Walker, Tony Pavloski, Adam Nelson and Brendan van Voorhis top the leaderboards. Also holding the spot at number one among conference competitors for the women are Kiersten Walker (400m) and Alexia Brooks (100m hurdles).

Full BIG EAST standings can be found here.

Record Book Updates
The 2019 outdoor season saw four new school records set with Henry Larkin hitting the program record set by head coach Dave Dopek.

Seeing the most success in the record books was the women's team marking all four of the records. On the track, Kiersten Walker ran a 54.46 400-meter dash to add her name to the books. In the triple jump, Jade Nolan had an impressive 12.22-meter finish to earn a spot on the program's leaderboard. Jade Gates holds the record for the hammer throw event with a 56.95-meter mark.

Breaking her own record a few times this season was senior Caroline Muller in the high jump. Her most-recent performance of 1.74 meters at the Huskie Classic was good for gold in the event.

Hitting the program record that was set in 1994 by then-student-athlete Dave Dopek, freshman Henry Larkin marked a 46.46 PR in the 400-meter dash that earned him the crown. The Oakland native has placed first in all four of the meets in which he has participated during his time as a Blue Demon.

Looking Forward
Following this weekend's conference meet, the DePaul track & field teams will await the qualifying lists for the NCAA West Preliminaries in Sacramento, Calif. The West Prelims are set to take place May 23-25.