Southern Illinois University
NCAA West Preliminary Round
Three more Salukis advance to NCAA National Finals
05/27/2011 | 12:00:00 | Track and Field
May 27, 2011
By Bill Ford
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Southern Illinois track and field team had three more athletes qualify for the NCAA Finals during the second day of the West Regional Friday in Eugene, Ore.
Jeneva McCall, Gwen Berry and J.C. Lambert will each get a shot to repeat as All-Americans in the hammer throw as the three Salukis earned their spots at nationals with top-12 finishes.
McCall continued her strong run in Oregon with a second-place finish in the hammer with a throw of 220-07. The result was not only the highest finish of any SIU athlete thus far at the West Regional, but also marked her second top-three finish in two days.
Joining McCall among the women's hammer throw elite, Berry took fourth with a throw of 203-07. On the men's side, Lambert finished ninth with a throw of 207-11.
Perhaps the highlight of the day for Southern, Senior Meredith Hayes broke the school record in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.39. The finish was good enough for sixth place in the preliminary round, earning Hayes a spot in Saturday's quarterfinal.
Saluki senior Olga Ciura missed the cut for nationals by just five spots, finishing 17th in the hammer throw with a mark of 184-05. Junior Malaikah Love also came close, posting her second top-20 finish in as many days with a 19th-place finish in the triple jump with a leap of 40-07.00.
Also competing for Southern, Kim Fortney finished 21st in the hammer with a throw of 183-01, Collin Otto finished 32nd in the hammer with a throw of 187-01, Megan Hoelscher finished 43rd in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 10:50.51, Brandon Deloney finished 43rd in the 200-meter dash in a time of 22.11 and Miracle Thompson competed in the pole vault, but failed to clear a height.
Southern will wrap up competition in the West Regional Saturday with six more Salukis set to compete.
SIU Athletes in action Saturday
Noon -- Women's discus (Fortney, McCall)
2:15 p.m. -- Women's high jump (Kenya Culmer)
4:05 p.m. -- Women's 100-meter hurdles (Hayes)
5:30 p.m. -- Men's discus (Jake Deiters)
5:45 p.m. -- Men's 5,000-meter run (Jeff Schirmer)
All times CST
Live streaming for the West Regional is available free of charge on the University of Oregon's website HERE
. Saturday's stream begins at 3 p.m. CST.
Players Mentioned
