Southern Illinois University
Gladstein Invitational
Strong start for Track and Field at Gladstein Invitational
01/22/2010 | 12:00:00 | Track and Field
Jan. 22, 2010
By Jason Clay
www.SIUSalukis.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Southern Illinois University had 11 top-five performers and seven athletes reach the finals in the sprint events here Friday on the first day of the Gladstein Invitational that is being held at Indiana University's Gladstein Fieldhouse.
Senior Sammy Biggs won the men's 400m Invitational with a season-best time of 48.71 and sophomore Malaikah Love set a new school record with 3,953 points to finish second in the pentathlon. Sophomore thrower Jeneva McCall was the second Saluki to win an event Friday, as she took first in the shot put with a throw of 52-09.25. McCall has now won the shot put in all three meets she's competed in this indoor season.
"Overall, I'm very happy," head coach Connie Price-Smith said. "We had a good first day where we set some personal-bests and had some good marks. Malaikah did a great job in the pentathlon and it put her really high on the NCAA provisional list. Everything is going well and seems to be falling into place for a strong showing tomorrow."
Three Salukis bested their personal records during Friday's competition. Joe Paradiso set a new personal-best as he finished third in the weight throw with him mark of 62-09.50. He was followed in fourth and fifth place by SIU's J.C. Lambert (62-05.25) and Ryan Shumaker (59-08.25).
Gwen Berry, who finished third in the women's shot put, set a new PR with her throw of 50-04.00. Rickael Roach also set a new personal-best of 48-06.74 in the same event to finish in fifth place.
In the prelims of the women's 60H, four Salukis moved on to Saturday's finals. Meredith Hayes led all competitors as she put up a time of 8.61 in prelims and was followed by Terri Counts, who had the second fastest preliminary time of 8.74. Miracle Thompson and Laquitsha Bejoile were the other two Salukis that advanced to the finals.
The Gladstein Invitational continues Saturday morning at 10 a.m. ET.
Players Mentioned
