O’Neal’s top-10 school mark highlights day two of Texas Relays

Friday, March 29

Austin, TX

Southern Illinois University

Texas Relays

Photo by: Will Becque

O’Neal’s top-10 school mark highlights day two of Texas Relays

03/28/2019 | 4:54:00 | Track and Field

By: Will Becque, SIUSalukis.com

The Southern Illinois University track and field team had four student-athletes compete on Thursday, March 28 at the 92nd annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, hosted by the University of Texas. The highlight of the day was provided by sophomore sensation Shauniece O'Neal, who notched a top-10 school mark in the hammer throw for the second-straight meet.

O'Neal continued her torrid start to the 2019 outdoor season. Fresh off last weekend's performance at the Bill Cornell Spring Classic that saw her notch top-10 school marks in both the discus and hammer throw, O'Neal crushed her previous PR in the hammer by more than 13 feet to finish third out of 24 throwers Thursday. O'Neal's toss of 212'-9" was not only a personal-best but it moved her from 10th to sixth on SIU's all-time hammer throw list. The sophomore from Florissant, Mo. currently has the top mark in the Missouri Valley Conference and ranks fifth in the NCAA West Region in the event.

On the men's side, Nate Dyer threw a season-best 205'-4" (62.59m) to finish 10th in the hammer while Ricky Hurley just missed a season-best at 197'-0" to place 15th.

Madison Meyer took 10th in the heptathlon Thursday. She opened with a personal-best tying time of 14.34 in the 100m hurdles and closed the event by setting a PR in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:25.79. Meyer finished top-10 in three of the seven events, and placed top-15 in five of seven events in a crowded field of 25 competitors.

Savannah Long (400m hurdles), Theo Phipps (110m hurdles), Tyjuana Eason (100m dash), Bri'Anna Branch (100m dash), the 4x100 relay and Adam Kessler (shot put) are all set to compete on day three of the Texas Relays. Three distance runners, Megan Krolak (3000m steeplechase), Chris Edwards (3000m steeplechase) and Josh Maier (10,000 run) are also set to run at the Raleigh Relays tomorrow, hosted by North Carolina State.