The University of Illinois Springfield track and field program had its most successful GLVC Championship event over the weekend in Indianapolis. The Prairie Stars had their first GLVC individual champion at the 2019 GLVC Indoor Track and Field Championships, and both the men's and women's teams scored their most point and had their highest team finishes at the event.
 
The women's program score 33 points and finished seventh at the conference meet. The men's team collected 23 points and tied for eighth. Neither team had ever scored double-figure points before at a GLVC Championship event.
 
Blake Jones made program history on Saturday by winning the first GLVC Individual Championship for a UIS runner when he captured the men's 5,000m. Jones, a freshman, finished the race in a time of 15:14.47, nearly five seconds better than the runner-up Grady Wilkinson of Southern Indiana. Jones took the lead with less than two laps remaining, and ran a time of 32.330 for his final time around the track, his fastest lap in the race.
 
Women's runner Taryn Christy earned all-GLVC honors after finishing second in the 3,000m. She is the first female all-conference track and field award winner at UIS. She ran a time of 10:17.70 for her runner-up finish. She also medaled in the 5,000m race after running a time of 17:48.07.
 
UIS women's team received points from Savannah Brannan in two individual events. Brannan finished fifth in the 5,000m with a time of 18:21.62, and she was seventh in the 3,000m with a mark of 10:36.09. Gloria Esarco came in fourth in the 800m race with a mark of 2:19.94, and Yoggerst finished sixth in the 400m finals with a time of 1:01.36.
 
In the relays, the women's 4x400 relay team of Esarco, Libby Price, Morgan Suttles, and Yoggerst finished sixth with a time of 4:20.21. The same quartet ran in the distance medley relay and finished seventh in a time of 13:09.58.
 
On the men's side, Jones also had a finish in the 3,000m race when he ran a time of 8:52.82 which was good for fourth. Kenton Wilson scored in the mile run as he crossed the finish line in 4:28.43. In the men's relay, the distance medley relay team earned a bronze medal. The squad of Brendan Kroeger, Blake Carlino, Preston Henze, and Wilson finished that race in a time of 10:34.82.