Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
MVC Outdoor Championships
Women's Track Fourth After Day Three, Men Are Fifth
05/14/2004 | 12:00:00 | Track and Field
May 14, 2004
By Josh Magill
www.SIUSalukis.com
NORMAL, Ill. - On the first day of full action at the 2004 Missouri Valley Conference Track and Field Championships, the Saluki track squads finished with four top five finishes and 15 qualifiers for Saturday's finals.
Southern Illinois University ended the day with the men in fifth place and the women's team in fourth place after three days of action. The Saluki women tallied 24 points after six events scored, while the men racked up 16 total points after six events.
The day began 90 minutes late due to rain, but finally got started with the women's discus throw.
Junior Venisha Williams and Danielle Lawary finished third and fourth in the discus, tossing marks of 146-09 and 138-10. Sophomore Megan Cenkush finished eighth with a throw of 126-01, while sophomore Janine Batchelor 12th with a distance of 116-09.
Sophomore Jason Pochynok notched 12th with a mark of 21-01.50 in the men's long jump. For the women, junior Inna Turevsky finished seventh in the women's long jump with a leap of 18-05.25.
Runner-up honors were bestowed upon sophomore Joe Byrne in the 3000-meter steeplechase, a multi-task event involving hurdles and water. Byrne clocked in a time of 9:10.26, while junior Eli Baker finished eighth in a time of 9:41.08.
With all but one of the day's finals out of the way, the conference field began prelims for many of the shorter races.
The hurdles started things off with senior captain Korto Dunbar having the fastest time of the day (14.26) in the 100-meter hurdles to qualify for Saturday's final. Junior Emmanuel Daux also qualified in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.80 - the fourth fastest time of the day.
In the 400-meter dash, the women qualified two, while the men qualified one. Junior Kelsey Toussaint and freshman Sherlenia Green finished the day with times of 56.40 and 55.55, respectively, for the women. On the men's side, junior Willie Davis clocked in at 48.59 for the fifth fastest time of the day.
The 100-meter dash saw the return of sophomore sprinter Felix Anderson, who missed the end of the indoor season and most of the outdoor season. Anderson finished with a time of 11.26, snagging the eighth and final spot in Saturday's final.
Anderson was fifth in his specialty - the 200-meters - with a time of 21.74 to also qualify for the finals in that race. Daux followed followed in eighth with a time of 21.83.
Dunbar returned with junior Yvonne Cohen in the 100-meters to qualify, finishing in sixth and eighth. The duo tallied times of 12.51 and 12.63, respectively.
In the last final of the day, Cenkush returned in the javelin to snag second place with a throw of 127-03, while junior Katy Ritten tossed a distance of 101-09 to finish 10th.
The women's team qualified two more for the finals in the 800-meter run with senior Ty-Nica Davis and Noa Beitler clocking in the fifth and sixth best times. Davis finished in 2:16.47, while Beitler crossed the line in 2:16.54.
The Saluki women continued the qualifying trend in the 400-meter hurdles as freshmen Marquita Vines and Leslie Murillo fourth and eight best times of the day. Vines had a time of 1:01.46, while Murillo finished with a mark of 1:03.74.
Toussaint returned in the 200-meters with Green to qualify for the second time. Toussaint finished with a time of 24.20 and Green clocked in at 24.88.
The final day of the championship will begin tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. with the women's hammer throw. Results can be found at www.Redbirds.org and www.SIUSalukis.com.
