Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Track and Field to Host MVC Championships
02/24/2005 | 12:00:00 | Track and Field
Feb. 24, 2005
By Shalae Schulte
www.siusalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois University track and field teams host the 2005 Missouri Valley Conference Championships at the SIU Recreation Center Friday and Saturday, Feb. 25-26. Both teams look to improve their fourth place finishes from a year ago.
The SIU women were picked to finish second in this year's MVC pre-championship poll, while the men were picked tied for fourth by a vote of league coaches. The Saluki women earned two first-place votes on their way to a runner-up finish behind two-time defending indoor champion SMS.
Northern Iowa, the 2004 men's champion, was picked to finish on top in 2005 receiving all seven first-place votes. The Panthers have won the MVC Indoor Championships for the last five years.
The Saluki women return two 2004 MVC champions, including Ty-Nica Davis who won the 800 meter run and Inna Turevsky, the winner of the triple jump. They also return eight of ten All-MVC honorees from a year ago.
Heading into the championships, juniors Davis and Amarachi Ukabam hold top Valley marks this season. Davis in the 800 meter run in a time of 2:10.46, and Ukabam in the shot put (55-06.25) and weight throw (69-00). Both marks have automatically qualified Ukabam for the NCAA Championships and are MVC all-time bests and SIU records.
The men return two All-MVC athletes in Anthony Acklin and Emmanuel Daux, both placing in the 60 meter hurdles in 2004.
Freddy Rule has set the standard in the high jump with the top mark in the MVC this season with an effort of 7-01.50. The mark provisionally qualified the senior for the NCAA Championships.
So far this season the Salukis have provisionally qualified four men and automatically qualified Ukabam in two events. Southern looks to raise that number this weekend when competition begins at 8 a.m. Friday with the women's pentathlon and the men's heptathlon. The meet will resume Saturday at 8:30 a.m.
Results can be found at www.siusalukis.com by clicking on the Track and Field Valley logo on the right side of the front page.
