CHARLESTON, Ill. - Sophomores Terry Phillips (Kansas City, Mo.) and Jodiann Walker (Montego Bay, Jamaica) led a balanced team performance as the Bears dominated the EIU Mega Meet with nine wins and 25 top-five finishes in only 15 events.

Phillips took home wins in the mile (4:55.41) and 3,000-meter runs (10:00.48), in the process setting the events' top times of any Missouri Valley Conference runners this season. Walker's 60-meter dash personal best, 7.70, led a one-two-four Bear finish in the event with Courteneé Boulard (Sr., Beaumont, Texas) and Shantel Llewellyn (Jr., Ajax, Ontario) finishing close behind.

Missouri State swept the top three places in the mile run as Staci Nelson (Sr., Chatham, Ill.) and Emily Beaver (Fr., Diamond, Mo.) finished after Phillips. The Bears enjoyed one-two finishes in the 200-meter dash behind Rashida Allen (Jr., Montego Bay, Jamaica) and Llewellyn; the 5,000-meter run from Stephanie Harres (Columbia, Ill.) and Mari-Jean Vance (So., Columbia, Mo.); and the high jump with sisters Mareneika and Zaleika Goffe. It marks the second-straight meet Mareneika has won the high jump.  

Freshman Maggie Sutor's collegiate debut in the 800-meter run was a good one as the Mokena, Ill., native finished first, ensuring a Bear's first-place sweep of every distance event in which an MSU runner competed.

Relay teams in the 4x400-meter (Yaneika Malcolm, Boulard, Allen and Llewellyn) and distance medley (Beaver, Nelson, Sutor and M. Goffe) capped the Bears' top finishes.

In the field events, Jeláni Kelly (So., St. Louis, Mo.) set a personal best in the weight throw while netting a top-five finish in the event as well as in the shot put, third place, where Scarlett McCall (Fr., Willard, Mo.) joined her at fifth.

The Bears will be tested next weekend, as they travel to Bloomington, Ind., for the Indiana Relays Jan. 29-30. It will be the Bears' third meet of the indoor season.