BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Eastern Illinois track and field had a dominating performance on Saturday as they posted 12 first place finishes at the Western Kentucky Hilltopper Relays. EIU will return to action in two weeks splitting its squad between the Kansas Relays and Vanderbilt Invite.

In addition to 12 first place finishes on the day EIU also had ten athletes post marks that landed in the EIU top ten including a school record by Mick Viken in the pole vault for the second straight week. Viken cleared 17'7.75" on Saturday to beat his own school record set last at the EIU Big Blue Classic by just over three inches as he easily won the men's pole vault. Abigail Schmitz won the women's pole vault with a height of 11'9.75" which landed her in fourth on the EIU career list.

Darren Patterson was a dual event winner as the EIU men dominated the sprints. Patterson placed first in the 200m and 400m. His 200m time of 20.83 ranks 4th at EIU while he won the 400m in a time of 47.71. Zye Boey won the men's 100m dash with a time of 10.25.

Bridget Sanchez was the top women's sprinter as she posted two marks that landed in the EIU career top five. She won the 400m with a time of 55.58 and placed second in the 200m at 24.50. Her 400m time is fourth best at EIU while her 200m time ranks fifth.

Erika Ramos and Megan Gingerich won the middle distance women's races with both runners posting top ten EIU times. Ramos ran a time of 2:12.97 to win the 800m with her time ranking eighth on EIU's career list. Gingerich won the 1500m with a time of 4:39.39 which slipped in at tenth on the Panther charts.

Other individual first place finishes for EIU were Olivia Klaus in the steeplechase and Queenie Adeboyejo in the triple jump. Klaus won with a time of 11:23.79 which ranks 5th in EIU history. Adeboyejo won the triple jump with a leap of 38'7.75".

Other top ten EIU marks were set by Jill MacEachen in the 100m hurdles and Donald Romero in the hammer throw. MacEachen was second in the 100m hurdles with a time of 14.58 which ranks eighth on EIU's career list. Romero had a hammer throw of 183'11" which placed second on Saturday and landed at fourth on EIU's career list.

The men's 4x100 relay and women's 4x400 relay teams rounded out the winners. The men won with a time of 41.01 with Patterson, Boey, Cody Boarman and Kaleel Johnson comprising the relay team. The women won with a time of 3:50.60 with Emily Quinones, Gingerich, Jaida Moore and Sanchez on that relay squad.