Salukis set to compete at 2019 MVC Indoor Track and Field Championships

Saturday, February 23

Cedar Falls, Iowa

Southern Illinois University

MVC Indoor T&F Championships

Salukis set to compete at 2019 MVC Indoor Track and Field Championships

02/20/2019 | 3:11:00 | Track and Field

ESPN3 (Saturday)ESPN3 (Sunday)Event Schedule Live Results

By: Will Becque, SIUSalukis.com

The Southern Illinois track & field program travels to Cedar Falls, Iowa to compete at the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by the University of Northern Iowa, beginning Saturday, Feb. 23 at the UNI Dome.

The Saluki men will be looking for their first MVC Indoor Track & Field Championship since 2012 while SIU's women will try to hoist the MVC indoor conference championship for the first time since 2009.

Director of TF/XC Rosalind Joseph on her first MVC meet

"Im excited to be able to have a starting point. Everyone talks about where you want to go or what you want to do and if I'm ready for the conference meet, but I won't really know until I get one under my belt. I haven't even been to the venue (UNI Dome) and have only met most of the head coaches in the conference in passing, so to be able to get in the arena, per se, and to see what its all about is something I'm really excited about."

Director of TF/XC Rosalind Joseph on her expectations for her team:

"Looking at the pre-championship poll, I want to challenge our team to move up in the standings. So as a team, what ever that means for you individually to help the team move up. So its always beat somebody, be better than you were, be better than what you thought you can be. But at the same time, executing what has gotten you to this point. It can be easy to go into a conference meet and try to do too much or do something completely different. Everyone is ready so I'm just expecting them to do what they are capable of doing."

Pre-Championship Poll

The Saluki men were picked to finish fourth in the MVC Pre-Championship poll, as they tallied 56 points to finish behind Illinois State, Northern Iowa and Indiana State. The Redbirds were also picked to win on the women's side, where the Salukis were slotted third.

Needing a big mark

The Saluki women have won just under half (11-of-23) of the MVC weight throw titles since the conference began contesting the event in 1996. Southern has won 10 of the last 13 MVC weight throw titles, including an eight-year title streak from 2005-12. SIU's most recent win in the event came in 2017, when Freya Block struck gold during her senior indoor season.

The Saluki men have been almost as dominate, winning 15 of 35 (42.8%) MVC weight throw titles since 1979. Southern has won 10 of the last 13 titles, including Isaac Ingram's back-to-back wins in 2017 and 2018.

Longest Title Drought by Event (Women)

The Saluki women have never won the 60-meter dash dating back to 1985 when the event was extended five meters, from the 55-meter dash to the 60-meter dash. Southern has, however, placed top-3 in the event in each of the past three seasons. Tyjuana Eason will enter the meet with the fastest time in the MVC at 7.48.

Longest Title Drought by Event (Men)

The Saluki men's longest streak without a conference title comes in the 4x400 relay, with SIU's last win coming in 1990. This year's 4x400 squad will try to put an end to that streak in what will be the final event of the 2019 championships, with the race set to get underway at 4:55 p.m.

Athletes to Watch

Alexis Roberson (Weight Throw) - A four-time MVC Women's Field Athlete of the Week honoree, Roberson has had a stellar junior season throwing the weight. The Jefferson City, Mo. native, who finished fifth a year ago in the event, has won the weight four times this season and currently ranks 17th nationally.

Shauniece O'Neal (Weight Throw/Shot Put) - O'Neal earned her first career All-MVC honor last outdoor season with a third place finish in the hammer throw. She has scored in two events at both conference meets that she has competed at, as she scored in both the shot put (7th place) and the weight throw (8th place) at the 2018 MVC Indoor Championships. She enters the conference meet ranked third in the conference in the weight and 10th in the shot put.

Tyjuana Eason (60-meter dash/200m) - Eason enters the conference meet with the fastest times in the MVC in both the 60m and 200m dashes. A 10-time All-MVC honoree, Eason has been locked in all season, as evidenced by her record-breaking performance at the Bulldog Invite in which she broke her own 200m indoor record with a time of 24.17. Eason will try to become the first MVC woman since 2017 to win both the 60m and 200m dashes at the same conference meet. If Eason is able to accomplish the feat she will shatter a pair of nasty streaks. Southern has never won the women's 60m dash since it was first contested in 1983 and hasn't won a conference title in the women's 200m dash since 1989.

Ricky Hurley (Shot Put/Weight Throw) - Hurley is coming off a junior season in which he finished no worse than fourth in the five events he competed in at the two conference championships. At last season's conference indoor meet, Hurley was the runner-up in the weight throw and finished third in the shot put. The 2018 National Qualifier has a strong chance of once again scoring in multiple events, as he comes into this year's conference meet with the second-best mark in the weight throw at 61'-4" (18.69m) and ranked sixth in the shot put.

Adam Kessler (Shot Put/Weight Throw) - Last season, Kessler burst onto the scene as he bested teammate Jared Kern to win the shot put at the 2018 MVC Indoor Championships with a meet record toss of 62'-9.50". This season, Kessler launched the third-longest toss in school history at 63'-2.25" (19.26m) and is a four-time MVC Field Athlete of the Week honoree. The Lansing, Ill. native will try to become just the eighth male thrower in Valley history to repeat as MVC Indoor Shot Put Champion, and the first since Josh Freeman won his second-straight title in 2016.

Caleb Vogel (high jump) - Vogel has finished in the top-3 of the men's high jump in four of the five meets he's competed at this season, including a win in the event at the John Gartland Invitational on Jan. 19. The Du Quion, Ill. native scored in the high jump at both MVC meets a year ago and finished as high as seventh at the 2018 MVC Indoor Championships. He is one of five Salukis leading the Valley in an event heading into Friday's meet, as he is tied atop the Valley standings with Illinois State's Francis Ehigbai at 6'-10.75" (2.10m).

Matthew Bigelow (heptathlon) - Last season, Bigelow set personal-bests in six of seven events in the heptathlon to finish second and earn the first all-conference honor of his career. This season, Bigelow scored 4919 points in the heptathlon at the Indiana Relays on Jan. 25, which are the most points in the event in the Missouri Valley Conference this season.

Madison Meyer (Pentathlon) - At last season's MVC outdoor meet, Meyer claimed SIU's first heptathlon title since 2011 after she finished no worse than fifth in all seven events and either set or tied personal-bests in three events. The Carterville, Ill. product, who most recently recorded a PR in the 60m hurdles at the Bulldog Invite on Feb. 8, will look to become the first Saluki to place top-3 in the pentathlon since 2012.

Nate Dyer (Weight Throw) - Dyer comes into the 2019 conference meet with the third-best weight throw mark in the MVC at 60'-9.5" (18.53m). He scored at last season's indoor meet with a sixth place finish and is one of 13 Salukis that will head into the conference meet with a top-3 mark in the MVC.