Saluki women's track and field wins Illini Open title

Saturday, January 13

Urbana-Champaign, IL

TBA

Southern Illinois University

Illini Open

Photo by: Will Becque

01/13/2018 | 11:36:00 | Track and Field

The Saluki women win at Illinois for the second-straight season while the men take second.

By: Will Becque, SIUSalukis.com

The Southern Illinois women's track and field team won the Illini Open on Saturday, Jan. 12, while the Saluki men's team took home second. The Salukis combined to win nine event titles and had 19 top-3 finishes, which included five top-10 school marks.

The Saluki women finished with 147 points, 10.5 points ahead of second place Illinois. Northern Illinois (57), SEMO (41.50), Bradley (37), Northwestern (35), Eastern Illinois (34), SIUE (33), DePaul (32), Butler (18) and St. Louis (11) rounded out the 11 team field. It was SIU's second-straight team title at Illinois, as the Saluki women won the Illini Classic a year ago.

Illinois won the team title on the men's side with 207 points. The Salukis finished second with 119.50 points, ahead of SEMO (51.50), DePaul (50), Bradley (48), SIUE (37), Butler (30), St. Louis (23) and Eastern Illinois (13).

Read highlights from an action-packed second meet of the season for the Salukis. SIU is back in action on Jan. 19 at the Vanderbilt Invitational.

Sprints

Tyjuana Eason broke her own school record in the 200m dash and set a personal-best in the 60m that moved her into a tie for second on SIU's all-time list. The Kankakee, Ill. native was a double winner for the Salukis at the Illini Open, as she won the 60m dash with a time of 7.50 and followed with a win in the 200m dash with a school record time of 24.50.
The Salukis scored 22 points in the women's 400m, as SIU had three of the top-five finishers including the race's winner, Shafiqua Maloney, who clocked a season-best time of 56.48.
Chrissa Harris clocked a personal-best in the 600m run with a time of 1:33.94. It was nearly six seconds better than her previous best and is the third-fastest time in program history.
Warren Hazel made it a clean sweep for the Salukis in the 600m. Hazel won the event with a time of 1:20.23.
The women's 4x400 relay team of Alicia Reed, Mystique Thompson, Chrissa Harris and Shafiqua Maloney won with a season-best time of 3:52.55.
Thompson took second to Eason in the 60m dash with a season-best time of 7.53.
The men's 4x400 relay team of Johnny McGluen, Canoy Tyree, BJ Croft and Warren Hazel took second with a time of 3:24.22.

Hurdles

Kevin Turner upped his personal-best time in the 60m hurdles with a mark of 8.28 to finish second at the Illini Open. The junior transfer stays at No. 8 on SIU's all-time list in the event.

Pole Vault

Erin Diemer clears a personal-best 11'-10" (3.61m) to finish third in the pole vault at the Illini Open. She upped her PR by more than five and three-fourths inches.

Jumps

Kilee Hagerstrand set a personal-best in the high jump with her clearance of 5'-1" (1.55m). Hagerstrand was one of three Salukis to clear that height, as she tied with Justine Paton and Tamar Mosby for fifth in the event.
Ashanna Hodge set a PR in the triple jump in just her second meet competing in the event. She jumped 38'-6.25" (11.74m) to finish second on Saturday.
Caleb Vogel cleared 6'-6.75" (2.00m) on his final attempt at the height to finish second in the high jump. Vogel's clearance was a personal-best.
Marcellus Fletcher made his much-anticipated debut as a Saluki and he notched a top-three performance in the triple jump. Fletcher took third in the triple jump with a mark of 46'-10.25" (14.28m).

Throws

SIU tallied 25 points in the women's shot put behind the event's winner, A'veun Moore. Moore won her first collegiate event title in her second meet with a toss of 47'-7" (14.50m). Five Salukis placed in the top-8, with Nikki Freeman taking third and Shauniece O'Neal set a personal best by nearly four feet to finish fourth. Kayleigh Conlon (6th) and Sian Person (8th) also scored in the event for the Salukis.
Southern's men's shot putters were equally as impressive as they scored an astounding 32-of-39 possible points. Five Salukis placed in the top-six, led by Adam Kessler. Kessler won his first event title as a Saluki with a toss of 59'-8.5" (18.20m). Jared Kern was less than a foot behind him in second with a toss of 58'-10.75" (17.95m) while Ricky Hurley missed out on a PR by seven inches to place third. Sam Sikon took fourth and Kyle Kling finished sixth.

Alexis Roberson set a personal-best in the weight throw with a toss of 66'-3" (20.19m) to win her first event title of the season. The Salukis scored 16 total points in the WT as Nikki Freeman finished fourth and Shauniece O'Neal added an eighth place finish.
Isaac Ingram made it a clean sweep for the Salukis in the weight throw, as he won his second-straight title with a season-best toss of 68'-9.75" (20.97m). He was one of three Salukis to place in the top-five in the event, as both Ricky Hurley and Adam Kessler set PRs in the event to finish fourth and fifth, respectively. Hurley threw 61'-4" (18.69m) while Kessler threw 58'-0.75" (17.70m).