Southern Illinois University
MVC Championships
Track and Field finishes second and third at MVC Championships
05/18/2008 | 12:00:00 | Track and Field
May 18, 2008
By Shalae Patrick
www.siusalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois track and field teams finished second in the women's team race and third on the men's side following the conclusion of the 2008 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championships Sunday at McAndrew Stadium on the Lew Hartzog Track.
The Saluki women finished second to Northern Iowa (172.5) by just four and a half points with 168. The women won three events and garnered 14 all-conference honors by finishing top-three in an event. Illinois State finished third with 120.5 points with Wichita State coming in a close fourth with 118. Indiana State (108), Missouri State (96), Drake (24) and Bradley (8) round out the field.
On the men's side, Northern Iowa ran away with the title with 204 points, while Wichita State finished second with 18.5. The Salukis won eight meet titles and earned 14 all-conference honors en route to 165 points and a third-place finish. Indiana State (137.5), Illinois State (95) and Drake (19) finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.
Saluki athletes Brandon Deloney and Brittany Riley garnered individual awards. Deloney was named the Men's Most Outstanding Track Athlete after winning the men's 200 title with a final mark of 21.14. Of all the events on the track, his mark ranked the highest nationally of all top times. Riley won both the discus and hammer, along with finishing second in the shot put. Her hammer mark of 218-06 ranks nationally earning her the Women's Most Outstanding Field Athlete.
The Saluki men won five events on the final day of competition including both sprint relays. Deloney anchored the winning 4x100-meter relay in a regional qualifying mark of 40.48 with teammates Stevie Warren, Sammy Biggs and Antoine Jennings. The four rearranged the order (Jennings Warren, Deloney, Biggs) to win the 4x400 in another regional qualifying mark of 3:09.52.
Following Deloney's win in the 200, he went on to finish sixth in the 100 in a time of 10.89. Biggs garnered a second-place finish in the 400 in a regional qualifying mark of 47.05, also finishing seventh in the 200 in 22.01. Warren finished first (10.51) and second (21.18) in the 100 and 200 respectively, while Jennings finished seventh (48.60) and eighth (22.07) in the 400 and 200.
In distance events on Sunday, Jeff Schirmer picked up his second title of the championships in the 5,000-meter run in a time of 15:13.12. Jason Ordway finished fifth in 15:20.61 to score extra points for the Salukis. In the 1,500, Greg McBride finished sixth in a time of 3:59.92.
Geoffrey Daniel jumped 48-08.25 in the triple jump to finish fourth in Sunday's field events. In the discus throw, the Saluki men garnered fifth through seventh places from Jake Dieters (160-02), Tom Smith (156-00) and Brenton Siemons (155-11). In the men's pole vault, Justin P. Kozak finished fourth, clearing 16-00.75.
For the women, Riley led the way Sunday with her discus title. Rickael Roach (143-00) garnered fifth, and Maria Pretnar (138-05) and Olga Ciura (134-11) seventh and eighth.
In the triple jump, Mikeya Nicholson (41-03.25) and Judeka Adams (40-04.75) garnered all-conference honors by finishing second and third respectively. Gwen Berry finished fifth with a personal-best jump of 39-02.50. Miracle Thompson scored two points with a seventh-place finish in the pole vault clearing 11-01.75.
In the hurdles, Kendra Deck regionally qualified with a 1:00.36 time in the 400 hurdles and a second place finish. Teammate Tredene Davis finished fourth in 1:01.31. Meredith Hayes and Terri Counts finished third and fourth in the 100 hurdles. Hayes in 14.08 and Counts in 14.09.
Andrea Norris garnered two top-five finishes in the sprints, third in the 100 in 11.82 and fifth in the 100 in 24.59. Bianca Stuart added a fifth-place finish in the 100 to her list of weekend accolades in 12.07.
Norris went on to anchor the women's 4x100 team to a second-place finish with teammates Stuart, Kandise Thompson and Hayes in 46.43. Davis, Norris, Gabbi Meniefield and Deck then collaborated to finish third in the 4x400 in 3:47.39.
Toni Whitfield picked up a fourth-place finish in the 800 in 2:12.66 after finishing third in the javelin on Saturday. In the 5,000, Megan Hoelscher (17:48.95) and Emily Toennies (17:49.96) finished seventh and eighth.
Players Mentioned
