Southern Illinois University
McDonald's Invitational
Track and Field Teams Sweep the McDonald's Invitational
02/05/2005 | 12:00:00 | Track and Field
Feb. 5, 2005
By Shalae Schulte
www.siusalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois University men's and women's track and field teams swept the McDonald's Invitational at the SIU Recreation Center Saturday. The women came out on top with 138 points, while the men scored 98 points on their way to victory.
Missouri Valley Conference foe Illinois State took second in both the men's and women's team standings. The Redbird women scored 84 points, while the men recorded 86. Vanderbilt (52), Memphis (46) and SEMO (43) rounded out the top five in the women's standings. Rend Lake (69), SEMO (68) and Wallace State (58) finished in the top-five in the men's race.
"We didn't have people in all of their events and we didn't run the relays," Saluki head coach Connie Price-Smith said. "But I thought if everyone came out and we did what we're capable of doing and what we've been doing in practice everyday that both the men and women could win."
Friday night the women took six of the top seven spots in the weight throw and the men took four of the top eight places to score points in the same event for SIU, placing each team in first place leading into the running events on Saturday morning.
"The throwers come out every meet and have the opportunity to set the tone," Price-Smith said. "When they come out and score big, usually the rest of the team follows."
The Saluki women won three events and scored points in 10 of 15 events to capture their first team title of the season. Ty-Nica Davis won the 800 meter run in a time of 2:11.91. Her time is currently leading the MVC and second all-time at SIU. Amarachi Ukabam, for the fourth time in four meets this season, won both the shot put (54-08.00) and the weight throw (67-05.50) to score 20 points for the Salukis.
Saturday the women garnered three of the top four spots in the shot. Along with Ukabam, Katy Ritten placed third in the shot with a personal best mark of 49-05.00 and Megan Cenkush placed fourth with a personal record of 47-05.00.
Sarah Rinker took second in the mile run in a time of 5:00.30 followed close by Lindsay Wagner (5:01.39) who placed fourth.
Kelsey Toussaint took third in both the 55 meter dash (7.14) and the 200 meter dash (25.06), while Sherlenia Green took fifth in the 200 (25.36).
The SIU men picked up three wins as well, with Mark Milleville winning the weight throw on Friday. Saturday, Freddy Rule picked up his third win of the season in the high jump, clearing 7-00.00, while Joe Byrne raced to a win in the mile, in a time of 4:12.57.
In his first meet of the season, Brent Little took second place in the long jump with a leap of 23-11.50, while fellow Saluki jumpers Kenen Shadd and Josh Cullers picked up third-place finishes in the triple jump (48-00.00) and the pole vault (13-11.25).
Kyle Monroe finished third in the 3,000 meter run in a time of 8:52.25 and Emmanuel Daux finished third in the 55 meter hurdles (7.46), his performance currently second in the MVC.
The Salukis will travel to Ames, Iowa, Feb. 11-12 to compete at the Iowa State Classic.
