Southern Illinois University
State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships
Track and Field finishes second at MVC Indoor Championships
02/28/2010 | 12:00:00 | Track and Field
Feb. 28, 2010
By Dana Ingraham
www.SIUSalukis.com
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - After an extremely close final day of competition at the 2010 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, the Southern Illinois men's and women's teams finished second to Wichita State.
Both Saluki teams stood in first place entering into Sunday's events and remained in limbo with the Shockers through the duration of the championships. The SIU women ended with a final tally of 145.50 points to Wichita's 151.50, while the men posted 148 points in comparison to Wichita's 176 points.
"Both teams fought hard today," said head coach Connie Price-Smith. "We ended up falling just short into second place, but we could have just as easily won on both sides. We had a lot of good performances and some of them could have gone either way. There was a lot of good competition out there and Wichita just had a little bit more than we did today."
Jeneva McCall won her second event of the weekend, capturing the title in the shot put with a throw of 16.43m. Gwen Berry finished second at 15.60m and Rickael Roach finished sixth.
J.C. Lambert also became a two-time champion with his personal best in the shot put at 17.68m. Joe Paradiso finished second behind Lambert with a throw of 17.57m, and Matt Eader came in fourth at 17.22m.
Rounding out the field events for the women, Malaikah Love captured a second-place finish in the triple jump with a distance of 12.80m and Miracle Thompson finished second in the pole vault with a height of 3.88m.
In the men's triple jump, SIU's Maxim Bakana's distance of 14.85m was good for third place and marks a new personal best.
Jeff Schirmer took home two titles for the Salukis, finishing first in the mile run with a time of 4:15.17 and first in the 5,000m run with a time of 14:28.60. Stephen Arvanis and Brandon Deloney joined the SIU circle of champions as well, as Arvanis took top honors in the 800m run at 1:53.70 and Deloney recorded a first-place finish in the 200m dash at 21.51.
On the women's side, Kandise Thompson was edged by Illinois State's Sade Sealy in the 400m dash, finishing second with a time of 55.63. Thompson also finished second in the 200m dash with a season-best time of 24.67.
Meredith Hayes was the second Saluki next to McCall to finish first for the women on Sunday, as Hayes was crowned MVC champion in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.50. Rounding out the championships, both SIU relay teams finished third in the 4x400m relay.
"We came out and competed hard this weekend and I think it was good for us to get ready and excited about the upcoming outdoor season," said Price-Smith.
The Saluki Track and Field teams will compete next on March 5-6 when they travel to South Bend, Ind. for the Alex Wilson Invitational.
Players Mentioned
