Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Track Teams Competing At MVC Indoor Championships This Weekend
02/20/2002 | 12:00:00 | Track and Field
Feb. 20, 2002
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Led by five top-seeded athletes, the Southern Illinois University men's and women's track and field teams will head to Northern Iowa University this weekend to compete in the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships.
Action will get underway at noon on Friday with the women's weight throw and the men's pole vault. Competition will wrap up late Saturday afternoon, and results will be updated on the SIU athletic website, www.siusalukis.com Friday and Saturday night.
The SIU men placed fourth in last year's MVC Indoor's, but are very optimistic of bettering that finish this year as they enter competition with four top-seeded athletes.
"I think top-three is definitely a realistic goal,'' said SIU men's coach Cameron Wright. "We are going in there looking at top-three, and that includes (possibly) first, second or third place. I don't know where we are going to be right now. We have had a decent year, but we have yet to put it completely together as a team, where everyone has done well at the same time. If we can get everyone clicking together at the same time in this meet we feel like we will do really well there."
Jeff Young and Adam Judge are the top seeds in the 60-meter hurdles and weight throw, respectively, coming off stellar indoor regular-seasons in which they shattered Saluki records and exceeded NCAA provisional qualifying standards.
Young has an MVC-best time of 7.77 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, way ahead of his closest competition, Steve Blocker of Northern Iowa, whose best time is 8.06 seconds. Judge has a personal-best toss of 69 feet, four inches, which is well ahead of the second-best throw of 64 feet, 10 1/2 inches by Alfie Gordillo of Illinois State.
Judge finished fourth in last year's championships, while Young will be competing in his first MVC championship since transferring from Seton Hall this year. Junior Paul Whitaker rounds out the SIU men's top seeds, as he enters the meet tied to the top spot in the MVC with Rory Howell of Norhthern Iowa with a leap of 6 feet, 10 1/4 inches. Saluki teammate Kellen Allen also has a leap of 6-10 1/4, but is injured and will not compete in the meet.
SIU has several other contenders on the men's side, led by freshman Jaanus Uudmae who will be competing in the triple jump. Uudmae has met an NCAA provisional qualifying standard this year with a jump of 51 feet, 3 3/4 inches, and is seeded second behind Randy Lewis of Wichita State, whose best jump is 53 feet, three inches.
"All of those guys ranked up there at the top have a shot. Then there are a couple of events that are wide open enough that if our guys go in and compete there best they could come out of there with a championship,'' said Wright.
Northern Iowa is the defending champion, but will have a tough time defending their crown on their home track as up to five teams may have a shot at the title.
"The interesting thing about this conference championship is that last year we finished fourth and were miles away from winning the thing - not even in the ballpark,'' said Wright. "This year, everybody is closer to the top, the point spread is a lot different. There is no leading team. I think the conference is getting a lot tougher. The good news is that we are inching closer to a conference championship. I think points-wise we are going to be closer than we have been in a long time. Unfortunately there are four teams that are in that same boat. It is a going to be an exciting meet with those four teams, which I think are going to be Nort hern Iowa, Illinois State, us and Wichita State. Really, even Indiana State could be in there."
The Saluki women have a trio of top contenders in former MVC champions Latrice Gray and Noa Beitler, and newcomer Mariann Ahuna, with hopes to better last season's fourth-place showing.
Beitler, a 2001 MVC champion in the indoor and outdoor mile and the outdoor 800 meters, will enter 2002 MVC Indoors as the top seed in the mile and the No. 2 seed in the 800m. Beitler's season-best time of 4:54.84 in the mile is just ahead of Agnes Kroneraff of Northern Iowa and her best 800 meter time of 2:12.44 is just behind Mashere Harrison of Southwest Missouri State.
Gray was the 2001 indoor and outdoor high jump champ, but enters this year's indoor championship as the No. 2 seed despite an indoor personal-best jump of 5 feet, 9 1/4 inches. That leap is just behind top seed Jennifer Drum of Drake whose best jump is 5-9 3/4. Ahuna is seeded second in the triple jump behind Ineta Radevica of Wichita State at 42-11 3/4.
