CHICAGO (Feb. 26, 2024) – The UIC men's and women's indoor track and field programs finished co-hosting their second Missouri Valley Conference Championships on Monday afternoon at the Dr. Conrad Worrill Track & Field Center at Gately Park in Chicago. Both Flames teams gained valuable experience and posted some noteworthy results during the two-day meet.
 
COACH'S COMMENT
"I'm proud of the effort from our team over the past two days of the MVC Indoor Championships," said head coach Paul Zavala. "In our second year of the MVC Championships, we had several strong performances and memorable moments for our program."
 

Scenes from the 2024 @MVCsports Indoor Championships ????#FireUpFlames pic.twitter.com/gkRZ1VnkLK

— UIC XC_T&F ???????????? (@UIC_XCTF) February 26, 2024

TOP FINISHERS
Men

• The UIC 4x400m relay team, consisting of junior Paul Sackman (Lincolnwood, Ill./Niles West), sophomore Marv Quinones (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way East), freshman Jackson Irby (Downers Grove, Ill. Downers Grove North) and senior Sacrad Michelin (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township), clocked in sixth with a time of 3:23.01.
• Underclassmen represented UIC well in triple jump, as freshman Stephen Kapumba III (Bloomingdale, Ill.) and sophomore Georgios Siomos (Chicago, Ill./Rolling Meadows) both qualified for the finals and wound up earning points for the Flames in the team competition by placing sixth (13.16m) and eighth (12.87m), respectively.
• Finishing at the top of his heat, senior Mark Lemke (Carpentersville, Ill./Jacobs) timed in at 14:35.41 in the 3,000m run to place 14^th. He also competed in the 5,000m and likewise finished 14^th. His 5,000-meter time of 8:26.01 puts him third in UIC history books.
• The Indiana State men's team claimed first place (183.5 points), while UIC finished ninth.

Women

• Racing in her first indoor conference championship meet, freshman Praise Oyebanji (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) clocked in at 2:21.65 to finish 16^th in the 400m.
• Freshman Makaya Phillips (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington) placed 15^th in long jump at 5.33m. Classmate Ava Maglaya (Romeoville, Ill./Romeoville) competed in triple jump, reaching 10.65m (12^th place).
• Graduate student Cailyn Persinger (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit West/UMKC) moved up the ranks in program history among 3,000-meter runners, now standing fourth all-time in Flames history with a time of 10:09.13, which was good for 20^th place.
• Indiana State also took the top spot as a team on the women's side (121 points). The Flames took 12^th place.

UP NEXT
UIC will now have a little more than a month to prepare for the start of its outdoor season. The Flames' first outdoor meet of 2024 will be WashU's Distance Carnival, which takes place Friday, March 29 at Bushyhead Track in St. Louis. More information on the meet will be provided in the coming weeks.
 
FOLLOW THE FLAMES
For more information on UIC's track & field and cross country programs, fans are encouraged to visit UICFlames.com, or follow the Flames on social media through X (@UIC_XCTF or @UICFlames) and Instagram (@UIC_XCTF or @uicflames).