Southern Illinois University
Butler Invitational
Gray, Young and Judge Lead SIU Track At Butler Invitational
05/06/2002 | 12:00:00 | Track and Field
May 6, 2002
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Saluki Missouri Valley Champions Adam Judge, Latrice Gray and Jeff Young turned in their best performances this outdoor season Saturday at the Butler Invitational, each winning their primary events to lead the Southern Illinois University track teams in the unscored meet.
Judge, a junior from Des Moines, Iowa, shattered his own SIU record in the hammer throw with a second-place toss of 209 feet, 3 inches. That is 5 feet, 3 inches better than his old record, set earlier this outdoor season. Judge's new personal-best is also an NCAA provisional qualifying standard. Judge also turned in a season-best throw in the discus (165-7), placing third.
Young, an All-American during the indoor season in the 60-meter hurdles, took steps to earning such honors in the 110-hurdles this outdoor season by clocking in at an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 13.86 seconds. That time easily placed Young first in the race and put him fourth all-time on the SIU outdoor best list.
There were plenty of other great performances for the Salukis, as Latrice Gray led the women's squad by winning the high jump, Jaanus Uudmae won the triple jump and Doron Giat placed second in the 1,500m.
Giat clocked in at a season-best time of 3 minutes, 51.46 seconds, while Uudmae returned to form with a leap of 50 feet, 3/4 inches. Gray, a three-time MVC champion in the high jump, had an outdoor season-best jump of 5 feet, 7 3/4 inches.
Katie Meehan added a personal-best time in the 5,000m (17:33.09, 6th), and Venisha Williams moved up to No. 3 on the MVC best list with a personal-best toss of 143 feet, which placed seventh.
Other top performances for SIU included third-place showings from Greg Denagall (triple jump 48-6 1/4) and Willie Davis (400m, 48.14), a fourth-place throw for Danielle Lawary in the shot put (46-7 1/2) and fifth-place showing for Mariann Ahuna in a very tough triple jump field (39-7).
Peaking at the right time of the year, the SIU men will return to action on May 15 at the MVC Outdoor Championships. The women will have one more warm-up meet May 11th at the John McDonnell Invitational.
