Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Track and Field heads to MVC Championships
02/25/2010 | 12:00:00 | Track and Field
Feb. 25, 2010
By Jason Clay
www.SIUSalukis.com
Men's Performance List | Women's Performance List | MVC Championship Central
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois women's track and field team is looking to repeat as indoor conference champions and the men are seeking its first conference title since 1992, as both teams head to Cedar Falls, Iowa for the 2010 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championships.
The championship runs Feb. 27-28 and Northern Iowa is hosting the event inside its UNI-Dome, which features a flat 200-meter track. It's the same facility where the Saluki women captured the 2009 indoor championship.
Both the men's and women's team were picked by the conference coaches as the pre-championship favorites, and head coach Connie Price-Smith feels that her teams are in a good position to come home with two titles.
"Everything has been going very well up to this point and I think everybody has been competing hard," Price-Smith said. "I like having good balance on the teams and the depth that we have. We could have a little more (depth) in some of the events, but I'm confident with the athletes that we have in the events we put them in."
Last year the Saluki women captured its first indoor championship since 2005 with a two-day total of 154 points. They head into this weekend's event ranked No. 12 in the nation by the USTFCCA.
"I think it's going to take everybody to come out and execute well in their events and just get in there and compete," Price-Smith said when asked what it will take for the women to repeat as champions. "It's not necessarily about having the fastest times or throwing the furthest throw, it's about competing against the other people in the events and placing."
The Saluki men have performed well all throughout the season and have 18 athletes placed in the top five on the leagues performance list.
"This is the first time we've been picked to win it on the men's side," Price-Smith said. "I think that the same thing holds true for the men as it does for the women. They just need to come out and compete against other people in the event and score as many points as possible."
The field events have been particularly strong for both teams this season, especially the throwers. In the women's weight throw, SIU has five of the top seven marks recorded in the MVC this year and three of the top five in the shot put. On the men's side, the Dawgs own four of the top seven marks in the weight throw and four of the top five in the shot put.
"I don't think it's going to be just one event that could make the difference, I think it is going to be the events that we have the depth in, and we need to make sure we execute and take care of those events," Price-Smith said. "We need to make sure we take care of our top people in the events and they need to come out and perform well and then everyone else needs to follow suit."
The Saluki men are ranked nationally in three events. Sophomore J.C. Lambert is responsible for two of those (No. 17 in the weight throw and No. 31 in the shot put) and Cody Doerflein has his name on the third (No. 21 in the pole vault).
SIU's women have their names etched in 11 spots in the national rankings and own four of the top 12 weight throws in the country this year. Sophomore Jeneva McCall heads into the weekend ranked No. 2 in the shot put and No. 3 in the weight throw.
Fans can follow the championships live as the weekend progresses by clicking on this link.
Players Mentioned
