Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Track and Field picked to sweep MVC Indoor Championships
02/23/2010 | 12:00:00 | Track and Field
Feb. 23, 2010
Courtesy of Kristin Gregory, The Missouri Valley Conference
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Southern Illinois men and women have been selected as pre-championship favorites for this weekend's 2010 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track & Field Championship in Cedar Falls, Iowa, in a vote by the league coaches.
The UNI-Dome on the campus of Northern Iowa will serve as host for the meet as the Saluki women look to repeat their championship performance and the Saluki men look to improve upon their third-place finish at last season's championship meet and come out on top.
The Southern Illinois men received all six first-place votes for a total of 36 points.
J.C. Lambert currently ranks 17th in the nation in the weight throw and has provisionally qualified in the shot put. Lambert is joined on the national rankings by teammate Cody Doerflein who sits at 21st in the nation this season for the pole vault.
Senior Jason Ordway holds the top time in the Valley in the 5,000-meter run and Sammy Biggs has the league's fastest time in the 400-meter dash. Brandon Deloney joins in the fun by holding the top spot for the Valley in the 200-meter. Biggs and Deloney were also named MVC Men's Track Athlete of the Week during the 2010 season.
The Southern Illinois women swiped the top position (62 points, seven first-place votes) in the pre-championship coaches' poll after notching eleven NCAA provisional qualifiers. SIU is currently ranked No. 12 in the nation by the USTFCCCA.
The Salukis are led by Jeneva McCall, an NCAA automatic qualifier, whose shot put ranks second and weight throw that ranks third in the nation.
Southern Illinois also boasts four NCAA provisional marks in the weight throw, including juniors Gwen Berry and Rickael Roach and senior Sasha Leeth. Malaikah Love has provisionally qualified in the long jump, triple jump, and indoor pentathlon this season.
2010 Men's Indoor Pre-Championship Poll
1. Southern Illinois (6), 36 points
2. Indiana State, 25 points
3. Northern Iowa, 24 points
4. Wichita State, 23 points
5. Illinois State, 13 points
6. Drake, 6 points
2010 Women's Indoor Pre-Championship Poll
1. Southern Illinois (7), 62 points
2. Wichita State (1), 55 points
3. Indiana State, 51 points
4. Illinois State, 37 points
5. Missouri State, 35 points
6. Northern Iowa, 23 points
7. Drake, 16 points
8. Bradley, 10 points
- First-place votes in parenthesizes
