Southern Illinois University
Alabama Relays
Track & Field Closes Out Alabama Relays
03/19/2016 | 12:00:00 | Track and Field
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Southern Illinois track and field squads closed out the 2016 Alabama Relays with four top-3 finishes and nine top-5 finishes Saturday at Sam Bailey Track and Field Stadium.
The Salukis were rained out yesterday, with lightning clearing the infield and the track shortly after the start of the day's first event. The meet officials were forced to move some events to Saturday, and cancel others all together. Six events for both the men and women were cancelled, and today's start time was moved up three hours to 10 a.m.
Nathan Schuck was the top collegiate finisher in the men's pole vault, clearing a personal-best 5.20m (17'-0.75") to take second. Chad Weaver cleared 5.05 (16'-06.75") to come in fifth while Jon Walsh cleared 4.90m (16'-0.75") to finish sixth.
Speaking of personal-bests, Franklin Adams took home a runner-up finish in the long jump. Adams leaped to a new personal-best of 7.42m (24'-04.25") to finish as the top collegiate jumper. The mark is the third-best in the country.
Kemar Jones was the runner-up in the men's 110-meter hurdles, finishing second out of 31 runners with a personal-best time of 13.99. The St. Phillip, Barbados native currently has the fastest time in the nation, and it marks just the seventh time in school history, and first since 2006, that a Saluki has run sub-14 seconds in the 110m hurdles.
Jones ran the second leg of the 4x400-meter relay, teaming up with Nikolai Gall, Cal Urycki, and Warren Hazel to finish in a tie for third. The SIU quartet crossed the finish line in 3:15.16, ahead of relay teams from Alabama, Memphis and Georgia Tech, to name a few.
Kezia Martin set a new career-best with a leap of 5.62m (18'-05.25") in the long jump. Martin took 12th in the event while Mystique Thompson, fresh off setting a PR in the 60-meter dash at the MVC Indoor Championships three weeks ago, followed with a strong showing in the women's 100-meter invitational Saturday. Thompson came in fourth with a time of 12.01.
Oscar Medina made his season-debut Saturday, narrowly missing out on a PR in the 1500-meter run in 3:52.81 to place fourth.
The distance medley relay of Lucas Horton, Ryan Mayberry, Chase Rogers and Denis O'Callaghan took fourth with a time of 10:10.16 in a field that saw the two top finishers break the facility record.
On the women's side, the distance medley relay of Alexandra Martel, Jordyn Kincy, Natalia Hajduk and Hillary Merrill teamed up to take fifth with a time of 11:53.22.
The Salukis host the Bill Cornell Spring Classic on Saturday, March 26 at 9 a.m. beginning with the women's discus throw. Volunteers to help with the event are needed, and anyone interested is asked to please email raske@siu.edu.
Players Mentioned
