RICHMOND Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University men's and women's track teams head to Franklin Field in Philadelphia, PA, to join some of the nation's top track and field athletes at the Penn Relays, Apr. 26-29.

"Look for James Mutuse to do big things in the steeplechase events and Daniel Koech to do very well in the 5,000 meters," said Erdmann.

The Colonels are coming off a cold weekend meet held last Friday night at EKU's Tom Samuels Track. Cincinnati, Kentucky, and Louisville participated, along with EKU in the Triangle Area Challenge, part of the NCAA Collegiate Series track events held this year.

Although finishing third in both the men's and women's meet, Eastern posted seven first places and 21 top five individual finishes. Highlighting the women's meet for Eastern was the 200 meter dash as junior Davina McCluney (25.48), sophomore Myiesha Spates (25.94) and freshman Sheri Calhoun (26.42) took the top three spots, respectively.

Senior Celestina Ogbolugo also performed well for the Colonels with a first place finish in the 1,500 meter run (4:51.47). Senior Jenni Brown came in first in the 5,000 meter run with a time of 17:49, and sophomore Kathy Dodsworth won the discus throw with a distance of 41.21 meters to round out EKU's first place finishes. Brown also came in second in the 3,000 meter run with a time of 10:46.16.

The 100 meter hurdles was also a good event for Eastern with seniors Lystra Bartholomew (14.51) and Kenyetta Grigsby (14.63) coming in second and third, respectively. In relay team competition, the Colonels placed second in the 4x100 meter relay (47.18) and third in the 4x400 meter relay (3:59.95).

On the men's side, the 1,500 meter run was the best event for the Colonels. Seniors Daniel Koech (4:02.44), David Machungo (4:02.75), junior Ryan Parrish (4:04.35), and freshman James Mutuse (4:12.92) took the top four spots, respectively. Senior Alex Bannister won the 200 meter dash with a time of 22.20 and came in second in the 110 meter hurdles. Sophomore Rob Jones won the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 54.72, while Mutuse won the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a time of 9:16.8. Sophomore JaiDante Burton came in second in the 400 meter dash (49.02) and sophomore Alan Horton finished second in the 5,000 meter run with a time of 15:15.67. In the relay team events, the 4x100 team came in third, while the 4x400 team also placed third.

"Despite the cold conditions, Jenni Brown ran very well for us," said EKU head coach Rick Erdmann. "Alex Bannister and all of the distance runners showed toughness and did well."