Southern Illinois University
State Farm MVC Outdoor Championships
Women first, men second after second day of MVC Championship
05/14/2011 | 12:00:00 | Track and Field
May 14, 2011
By Michael Benson
SIUSalukis.com
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - Despite soggy conditions at Northern Iowa, the Southern Illinois track & field teams held steady near the top of the leaderboard Saturday with three more event titles at the Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Championship.
The women's team extended their lead over Wichita State to 24.5 points by bringing their total to 106.5 points. Meanwhile, the men trail the Shockers by a slim four-point margin.
"Going into the final day, I think we are in a great position," said Saluki head coach Connie Price-Smith. "We competed very well today. Everybody competed very hard they're fighting for everything they can get."
"I'm confident about where we sit not and am looking forward to tomorrow."
The women continued their dominance of field events with two more individual titles. The first came courtesy of Gwen Berry, who claimed the shot put with a mark of 55-09.00 that moved her into second all-time in SIU history. Following the senior was Jeneva McCall in second at 55-07.75 - a personal-best - and Kim Fortney in sixth with 48-02.75.
In jumps, Malaikah Love was unrivaled in the long jump, easily taking the MVC crown with a leap of 19-09.00. Additionally, Love broke the Saluki record in the heptathlon with 5303 points to win that event as well.
The women's high jump saw two Salukis - Kenya Culmer and Kasey Oceguera - take top three spots in the final standings. Culmer earned second place with a height of 5-05.00, while Oceguera tied for third at 5-03.00.
For the men, J.C. Lambert and Jason Seaman teamed up for top five finishes in the shot put. Lambert would take fourth with a heave of 52-08.00 and Seaman was fifth at 51-06.50.
The men's high jump resulted in two Salukis scoring much needed points for the SIU effort, as Kendrick Branch and Austin Brandenburg both leapt 6-02.75. However, Branch would take fifth place over Brandenburg based on tie-breakers.
Though part of the action on the track was postponed until tomorrow due to timing equipment malfunctions, a slew of Salukis stood out. Meredith Hayes recorded the top time in the 100m hurdles with a clip of 13.93. Miracle Thompson will go in to tomorrow's final with the third best time at 14.14.
Megan Hoelscher finished third in the women's 3000m steeplechase with a time of 10:43.61.
Stephen Arvanis was the men's track standout of the day, earning the top time in the 800m prelims at 1:53.18 as he seeks to defend his MVC title. In third was Zach Dahleen, who qualified for tomorrow's final in a time of 1:54.51.
Lucas Cherry and Brad Wrage each earned team points in the 3000m steeplechase with third and eighth place finishes, respectively. Also, Quincy Shelton and Justin Kozak successfully qualified for tomorrow's 400m final.
The deciding day of competition begins tomorrow at 11 a.m. with the men's pole vault. The running events postponed by Saturday's rain will begin at noon.
Players Mentioned
