May 11, 2012

Citireag Breaks 800-Meter Record

NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Ioana Citireag broke the SIUE record in the 800-meter dash Friday at the Keeler Invitational.

Citireag bested 58 other runners in the event over six sections. Her time of 2 minutes, 9.12 seconds broke the school record set by teammate Aftan Noon who set the mark in 2010.

"When I stepped to the line I knew I was going to win the race," said Citireag. "What was important was the time. I'm so grateful for the support of Coach (Kareem) Jackson, Coach (EIleen) McAllister and the opportunities I've had at SIUE. I want to thank Dr. (Jennifer) Gapin for all of her help."

"We've worked a lot on confidence," said McAllister. "It was awesome to hear Ioana's response after her race. She's been ready to break 2:10 for several weeks, and it all came together tonight. She is still capable of dropping more time. She works so hard and doesn't take any shortcuts. She's made such a big impact in just the short time she's been a part of the program. I'm so happy for her and glad she met her goals as a Cougar."

Teammate Dede Lofton also finished strong in the 800 with a 12^th-place time of 2:15.

Noon competed at Friday's meet in the 1,500 in a time of 4:52.39.

Colleen McDonough put herself among SIUE's all-time best throwers with a shot put toss of 14.09 meters (46 feet, 2.75 inches).

"That was a great way to finish the season. She just narrowly missed the school record," said McAllister.

That put McDonough No. 2 on the all-time list at SIUE. She finished second in the event overall to Northwest Missouri's Lekeisha McKnight.

Claire Brown turned in the top time of the season at 5,000 meters for the Cougars. She finished in 31^st place overall in a time of 18:49.36. Hannah Lee also ran the event in 20:17.31.

Kristin Wykoff took a solid second-place finish in the hammer throw with a final toss of 49.19 meters (161-5). She had three previous throws which would have given her second place as well, but the Cougar junior made her final throw her best. In the discus, Wykoff's second throw of the meet was good enough for sixth place overall. She threw 39.67 meters (130-2).

"It was an exciting end to the season," noted McAllister. "It was a great environment. I'm not ready for the season to be over but am very excited for next year."