April 16, 2001

Monmouth, Ill. - Junior Monieka Thompson (Chicago, Ill./Steinmetz) raced to a meet-record of 2:12.53 to push UIC to an eighth-place finish of 29 points at the 12th Annual Lee Calhoun Memorial Meet on Saturday.

"The problem is that Monieka is so talented that there is no one that can really challenge her," track and field coach Jim Knoedel said. "Hopefully she'll find some stiffer competition at the Kansas Relays this weekend."

Thompson also ran the anchor legs of both the 400-meter (50.51) and 1600-meter (4:05.62) relays for the Flames.

"Monieka turned in three top-notch efforts for us," Knoedel said.

Host Western Illinois captured the overall title with 212 points, followed by Illinois State (133), DePaul (99), Monmouth College (75), Chicago State (55), Iowa (39), UW-Milwaukee (29.50), UIC (29), Northern Illinois (28), Bradley (14), Knox College (12.50) and Parkland CC (10).

Freshman Jenni Goebel (Lombard, Ill./Willowbrook) also turned in a solid performance for the Flames with a third-place finish in the 5,000-meter run (18:40.6).

Senior Barry Somerville (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles) was the top performer for UIC on the men's side as he captured the 400-meter intermediate hurdles title with a time of 53.29, which was over a second faster than his previous season-best mark. That performance helped propel UIC to an eighth-place finish of 30 points.

"Barry won a real tight race this week," Knoedel said. "He was nipped at the line last week and he wasn't going to let that happen again.

"It was a tremendous performance," Knoedel continued. "He made some changes in his steps and was very successful."

Eastern Illinois took home the men's title with 144.50 points, followed by Western Illinois (115), Illinois State (103), Truman State (97), DePaul (76), Monmouth College (75.50), Iowa (62), UIC (30), UW-Milwaukee (28), Chicago State (4), Parkland CC (2), Spoon River College (1).

Knoedel also lauded the performances of distance runners Joe Marren (Chicago, Ill./Mount Carmel), Rich Daubert (Arlington Heights, Ill./Hersey) and Danny Smith (Chicago, Ill./St. Patrick) in the 1,500-meter run.

Marren placed fourth overall with a time of 3:58.95 while Daubert followed in fifth with a mark of 3:59.94. Smith crossed the finish line with a 10th place mark of 4:04.76.

"They all ran career-bests," Knoedel said. "That was a big breakthrough for all of them."

UIC will have two squads in action this weekend as the Flames will participate in the Kansas Relays in Lawrence, Kansas, and also take part in the Elmhurst College Invitational.