CHARLESTON — Uni's two relay teams each earned sixth-place finishes Saturday at the Charleston Indoor Girls Invitational at Eastern Illinois University.

Competing in Class A, the Illineks tied for 25th overall out of 35 teams from around the state.

Unlike the Illineks' two previous indoor meets this season, which Uni hosted at the University of Illinois Armory, the Charleston meet used fully automatic timing (FAT) and allowed for runners to have a wider variety of competition (35 Class A and 23 Class AA schools participated).

This year's Illinek team has lost a majority of the girls distance squad from 2007, including outdoor state qualifiers Shivani Khanna (3,200-meter relay) and Elizabeth Russell (1,600 run), as well as other top runners.

Senior Ruthie Welch (anchor for the 4x800 at the 2007 outdoor state meet) is the only returning distance runner, but she and classmates Angie Jin and Linda Song were absent Saturday due to the senior trip to the Wisconsin Dells. Junior Rachel Skoza, a key runner for the sprinting team, was absent due to the SAT.

Nonetheless, many girls finished with multiple personal records, showing great potential as the year progresses.

The 4x200 relay, consisting of (in the order of which they ran) junior Lizzy Warner, sophomore Tuli Bera, freshman Ashley Huddson, and sophomore Rachel Harmon, placed sixth out of 24 teams and finished with a time of 1 minute, 57.99 seconds.

The 4x400 relay also placed sixth (out of 28 teams), turning in a time of 4:33.46. The squad consisted of Huddson, sophomore Katherine Allen, sophomore Cheyenne Stewart, and Warner.

The meet started at 8:15 a.m. and lasted until roughly 1 p.m. Medals were awarded to the top eight athletes in each event, first place earning 10 points, with the next seven spots earning eight, six, five, four, three, two and one respectively.

Overall, the Illineks earned six points.

The team will compete in two more meets, both at the U of I Armory (tonight and March 12), in which Uni girls can qualify for the Illinois Prep Top Times Indoor Classic.

The IPTT event, which will take place March 28 for Class A schools, is the unofficial state meet for indoor track and field. The meet will be held at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington.

At last year's IPTT meet, the 4x800 squad of Khanna, Elaine Gu, Aria Collopy (now graduated), and Welch placed 7th out of 14 teams. In the 800, Khanna and Welch finished 11th and 12th, respectively, out of 14 runners. Paige Martin (now graduated) placed sixth in the pole vault (out of 13) and 12th in the triple jump (out of 17).

Uni Results: Charleston Indoor Girls Invitational

Long jump

• Fiona Weingartner, 12 ft, 10 in (14th/16)

4x200-meter relay

• Lizzy Warner-Tuli Bera-Ashley Huddson-Rachel Harmon, 1:57.99 (6th/24)

55-meter dash

• Rachel Harmon, 8.36 (28th/51)
• Linda Ly, 8.55 (36th/51)

200-meter dash

• Deborah Ladd, 0:34.41 (29th/30)

Triple jump

• Tuli Bera, 25 ft, 4.5 in (17th/17)

400-meter dash

• Fiona Weingartner, 1:14.87 (20th/27)

4x400-meter relay

• Ashley Huddson-Katherine Allen-Cheyenne Stewart-Lizzy Warner, 4:33.46 (6th/28)