Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Three Salukis headed to IAAF World Championships
08/12/2011 | 12:00:00 | Track and Field
Aug. 12, 2011
By Bill Ford
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois track and field will be well represented at the upcoming IAAF World Championships August 27 to September 4 in Daegu, South Korea.
SIU head coach Connie Price-Smith will serve as Team USA's head women's coach at the event while Saluki thrower Jeneva McCall will compete for Team USA in the hammer throw and SIU graduate Bianca Stuart will represent the Bahamas in the long jump.
McCall, who is soon to begin her senior year at Southern, only found out this week she made the team. The Dolton, Ill., native finished fourth in the hammer at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in June, which was one spot shy of qualifying for an automatic spot on the team. Luckily, third-place finisher Keelin Godsey failed to meet the qualifying standard of 69.00 meters.
Godsey had until August 8 to put up a qualifying mark, otherwise McCall would go in her place. McCall reached the qualifying standard with a throw of 69.55 meters at a meet two weeks after the USATF Championships.
"I trained hard for two weeks after the USA's and I got the B standard," McCall said. "I thought, `I have it now. It is up to her to knock me out.' I just relaxed and trained like I was going. I was being confident and thinking best scenario possible."
Godsey competed in her last possible meet August 6 and didn't reach the standard. When the Team USA roster was announced August 8, McCall's name was on it.
"I was very exciting because I love competition," McCall said. "It's going to be fun to chase after the women at the top and see where I get from there."
Though the meet is the biggest stage of her competitive career, McCall said she will treat it the same as any other meet - she'll try her best to win.
"I don't think of it as a learning experience as much as a challenge to make the final so I can get world ranked," McCall said.
McCall will have a luxury of sorts in getting to keep the same coach she has had the past three years at SIU. The IAAF World Championships will be a milestone for Price-Smith as the first time she will be the head coach of the senior-level national team.
"It's exciting to be able to have someone from your university compete at the world level," Price-Smith said. "When I get to be part of it as well, that makes it even better."
McCall will be the only collegiate athlete competing for Team USA at the World Championships and the first Saluki to compete at the Worlds since Brittany Riley in 2007. Price-Smith said the experience will be invaluable for McCall down the road.
"For her to be able to go to a World Championship this early in her career will do great things for her mentally," Price-Smith said. "To be able to see the rest of the world and compete against them at that level is great for her growth in the sport."
Bianca Stuart punched her ticket to Daegu with a gold medal finish in the long jump at the Central American and Caribbean Senior Championships last month in Puerto Rico. Her winning leap of 6.81 meters broke a 19-year-old Bahamian national record and the CACAC Championship record.
"It was a great experience," Stuart said. "It was the furthest I have jumped in my life. I came out with a bang."
The performance also qualified Stuart for the 2012 London Olympics. As long as she stays healthy, she'll be the first Saluki to compete in an Olympics since Price-Smith in 2000.
"It's everybody's dream to make it to the Olympics," she said. "I knew I had the confidence to do it. I have worked very hard and it paid off."
A 2009 SIU graduate, Stuart won seven Missouri Valley Conference titles as a Saluki and earned two All-America nods. She still holds the school records in the indoor and outdoor long jump. Stuart credits SIU jumps coach Andre Scott with helping her become the athlete she is.
"Coach Scott really groomed me into a great athlete," Stuart said. "He really gave me great guidance and I have just maintained that."
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