Southern Illinoise University Athletics
SIU Track Teams To Host McDonald's Invitational
03/12/2001 | 12:00:00 | Track and Field
January 24, 2001
The Southern Illinois University Carbondale men's and women's track teams will participate in their second meet of the season, when they host the McDonald's Invitational in the Student Rec Center on January 26 and 27. The Saluki women won the McDonald's Invitational in 2000, while the men finished second.
The women won the Saluki Booster Invitational two weeks ago, but coach Don DeNoon is expecting the team to improve on their performance, particularly in the sprints.
"We need to see continued improvement on everyone's performances and I feel we're the best team at this meet. A victory would be satisfying and anything less would not be for this team," added Don DeNoon, Saluki women's track coach. "I think our sprinters need to step up. This meet doesn't have as many great sprinters as our first meet, so our sprinters should show up and score some points. We will need them with Rimma Turevsky not competing in the triple jump (first at Saluki Booster) and the pole vault having a strong field, so we won't score 16 points in those events like we did last week."
The Saluki men finished fourth in their season opening performance at the Saluki Booster Invitational. Coach Cameron Wright expects more than just improvement at this meet, he wants to end the weekend with a victory.
"I expect us to win. I want our athletes to try to win every meet. We need to understand that this meet is the most important thing this week for us. I think it1s a big meet, we have the conference championships in less than a month and we need to have some good performances," said Cameron Wright, new Saluki men's track coach. "I want 100 percent effort and we need to put it all on the line this week. That's the difference between champions and teams that finish fourth or fifth. We have as much talent as anyone else. We want to beat Wichita State and Bradley and any other conference schools that we face during the season."
The competition begins on Friday, January 26, at 6:15 p.m. with the men1s shot put ad will be followed by the women's 20 lb. weight throw, which will conclude the events for Friday night. The rest of the McDonald's Invitational events will be contested on Saturday, January 27. Day two will begin at 9 a.m. with the men's 3000 meter run and will conclude with the men1s 4 x 400 meter relay, which is scheduled for 4:15 p.m.
The women's competition will feature 11 schools including Southern Illinois, Bradley University, Austin Peay State University, Wichita State University, Eastern Illinois University, Murray State University, Tennessee Tech University, University of Tennessee-Martin, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Lincoln University, and McKendree College.
The men's field will consist of nine schools featuring Southern Illinois, Bradley University, Wichita State University, Eastern Illinois University, Murray State University, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Lincoln University, Rend Lake College, and McKendree College.
Ticket cost for the meet is $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for children.
