RENNSELAER, IN --- Kaj Days became the first ever UIS track athlete to earn GLVC All Conference honors with his second place finish in the high jump at the Outdoor Track Championships held over the weekend at St Joseph College.  Days cleared 1.96m (6' 5") and lost out in a down to the final jump battle to champion Rashad Gray of Wisconsin Parkside, 1.99m 6' 6.25"  
 
The UIS men were making their first ever appearance at the GLVC Championships and earned an 11th place team finish out of the 14 GLVC schools in the event.  The Prairie Stars scored 11 points in the meet that saw McKendree win its first ever GLVC title with 150 points over runner-up Missouri S & T with 130.
 
George Wayda earned a sixth place finish in the javelin throw (48.16m) 158', which was a great finish based on his having to drop out of the decathlon due to a leg injury and he was only able to minimally throw in the event.
 
The UIS 4 x 400m relay team broke the school record by over six seconds and earned a ninth place finish with a time of 3:29.26.  The squad all freshmen included Preston Henze, Ruell Chappell, Blake Carlino, and Brendan Kroeger.  The previous school record was 3:35.24 set at Rhodes in March.
 
Eli Cook finished 13th on the 10000m run with a time of 33:02.26.  Nick Reynolds finished 16th in the 3000m steeplechase with a time of 10:18.10, which broke the previous school record of 10:27.78 held by Elliot Nabatov set earlier this year.  Jake Seidel placed 18th in the javelin (39.29m) 128' 11" and Garrad Straube was 19th in the 5000m run with 16:24.59.
 
Coach Mike De Witt commented on the Championship Meet:  "Our group of 10 athletes that qualified for the meet were able to see what they can aspire to in the near future.  They were able to learn a few things about the competitiveness of the events and what a full three day meet looks like.  It was a great motivator.   Kaj has done an exceptional job on a very tight window of training and meets, for those not fully familiar with how the high jump can compare to other sports, it is an individual event.  This meet was similar to a last second of a basketball game, except there is no defense for an opponent brushing the bar and it stays on and Kaj brushing the bar and it barely falls off.  It was great to be able to start a list of All GLVC performances in just the 6th meet in the program history."