Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Track and Field to send 17 to NCAA Regional
05/19/2011 | 12:00:00 | Track and Field
May 19, 2011
By Bill Ford
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Southern Illinois track and field team will send 17 athletes to compete in a combined 16 events at the NCAA West Regional May 26-28 in Eugene, Ore.
The No. 20 Saluki women's team will send 11 athletes to the Regional while the men's team will send six to the event, which will take place at the University of Oregon's Hayward field.
The SIU women will be led by the field contingent of Jeneva McCall, Kim Fortney, Malaikah Love and Gwen Berry who will each compete in multiple events.
McCall and Fortney will compete in the same three events -- shot put, discus and hammer throw. McCall is the defending national champion in the discus and enters the Regional ranked in the top 10 in the region in all three events -- third in the hammer, fourth in the discus and 10th in the shot put.
Love will compete in the long jump and triple jump while Berry will compete in the shot put and hammer throw. Berry ranks first in the nation in the hammer and ninth in the region in the shot put.
Also competing for the SIU women will be Tredene Gant (400m hurdles), Megan Hoelscher (3,000m steeple chase), Kenya Culmer (high jump), Miracle Thompson (pole vault), Olga Ciura (hammer throw), Toni Whitfield (javelin), and Meredith Hayes (100m hurdles). Ciura ranks 11th in the region in the hammer.
Senior Jeff Schirmer will be the only member of the Saluki men's team competing in multiple events as he qualified for the Regional in both the 5,000m and 10,000m runs. Schirmer ranks fourth in the region in the 10,000.
Joining Schirmer at the West Regional will be Brandon Deloney (200m), Daniel Dunbar (10,000m), Jake Deiters (discus), J.C. Lambert (hammer throw) and Collin Otto (hammer throw). Lambert ranks ninth in the region in the hammer while Dieters ranks 11th in the discus.
The top 12 competitors from each event in the West Regional will advance to the National Championships June 6-8 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.
NCAA West Preliminary Round Participants
NCAA West Preliminary Round Schedule
NCAA West Preliminary Round Information
