Illig and Suiters Take Home Top Conference Awards

Meghan Illig and Katie Suiters took home the top two individual awards for the 2018 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Women's Track and Field season. Illig was named the SLIAC Track Athlete of the Year while Suiters took home the SLIAC Field Athlete of the Year.

Illig, a senior from Webster University, took home the top honors among track competitors after grabbing five medals at the championship meet. She had a pair of golds in the hurdles, winning the 100-meter hurdles and the 440-meter hurdles, and added a silver in the 400-meter race, and a bronze in the 200-meter dash. She was also a member of the gold medal-winning 4x400 relay team and totaled 36.5 points on the weekend. 

Suiters, from Spalding University, was named the top Field Athlete of the Year after securing two medals while competing in four events. She finished 1st in the discus with a throw of 121'6" and took 2nd in the shot put with a distance of 37'8.5". Suiters also picked up a 5th place finish in the hammer throw and a 6th place finish in the javelin. 

The SLIAC Field Newcomer of the Year award goes to Johnae Hightower. Hightower, a freshman from Lee's Summit, Mo., competed in five events for the conference champion Gorloks. She captured individual gold in the triple jump with a mark of 34'6.75" as well as the long jump (16'11.5"). Hightower also ran the anchor leg of the 4x100 meter relay team that took 1st place and placed 6th in both the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash. 

The Track Newcomer of the Year is Greenville University's Taylor Tucker. Tucker was busy running numerous events for the Panthers on Saturday, competing in four events. She took gold in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.72 seconds. She added a pair of silver medals while a part of the Panthers 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams and added a 5th place showing in the high jump.

The Webster University Coaching Staff was named the SLIAC Coaching Staff of the Year while Principia College was awarded the Team Sportsmanship award.

Full list of 2018 SLIAC Track and Field All-Conference honorees