Eastern Illinois men’s track and field added two local athletes to its 2017 roster after both competed at the IHSA State Track Meet in late May. In addition six previously signed track and cross country athletes wrapped up their senior seasons.
Colton Yeakley and Marcus Skinner recently signed with the Panthers track and field team.
Yeakley is from Atwood and helped ALAH HS (Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond) place sixth at this year’s IHSA Class 1A State Championships. Yeakley advanced to the state meet competing in the discus and shot put. He was the state runner-up in the shot put with a finals throw of 54’7.75”. He placed seventh in the discus finals with a mark of 158’5”. As a junior Yeakley placed 11th in the shot put and 12th in the discus at the Class 1A finals participating on the final day in both events. He placed seventh in the state as a sophomore in the discus with a finals mark of 157’1”.
Skinner competed for Shelbyville HS and advanced to the IHSA Class 1A State Championships in three events. He was part of the state runner-up squad on the 4x800m relay team that posted a finals time of 7:55.71. As an individual Skinner placed 10th in the state finals in the 3200m run with a time of 10:01.47. Skinner was second at the Moweaqua Central A&M Sectional in the 1600m with a time of 4:34.84 as his team won the Sectional title. Skinner was seventh in the state in the 3200m as a junior with a Class 1A finals time of 9:44.38.
The Panthers track & field and cross country teams previously signed six athletes that wrapped up their senior seasons in May. Seth Williams, Zach Phillips and Nick Phillips all signed with EIU in April. Tyler Lay, Robbie Prescott and Raul Rosendo signed national letters of intent with EIU back in November.