Four Salukis win titles on day two of MVC Outdoor Championships

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — The Southern Illinois track and field program won four conference titles and broke a school record on a rain-filled day two at the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Championships.

After sitting in fifth place at the conclusion of day one, the Saluki women surged to a tie with Northern Iowa for second place at 43 points. Southern is just 10 points behind Illinois State for a share of the lead. The men's team remained in fourth place with 49.5 points.

"What a day it was in the rain," Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Rosalind Joseph said. "All of our athletes really stepped up and fought through less than ideal conditions."

Once again, SIU opened competition with the heptathlon and decathlon events. Madison Meyer won three of the four heptathlon events on day one and did not miss a beat in her return to the track and field. In the three remaining events, Meyer took first in the long jump (19'-02.50" // 5.85) and javelin (131'-05" // 39.95m), while placing second the 800-meter run with a time of 2:27.65.

The remarkable five-win performance in the seven-event marathon earned her 5380 points. The total not only crowned her MVC champion for the second-straight year, but also broke the SIU heptathlon school record, which was last set in 2011 by former Saluki Malaikah Love.

Meyer became just the third in SIU history to repeat as the heptathlon champion and first since 1997. In addition, the point total was a new Gibson Track and Field Complex facility record.

"What can you say about Madison Meyer," Joseph said. "She is just a phenomenal athlete, great competitor, and more importantly a selfless teammate. We've asked a lot of her this weekend and not only has she obliged, but she's really owned it and put together a performance that was not only dominant in the conference championship, but the best heptathlon performance ever by a Saluki. That's pretty special."

Senior Matthew Bigelow placed sixth in the decathlon with 5701 points. In the discus portion of the decathlon, he placed second with a toss of 123'-03" (37.65m).

Southern's next individual Valley title came in the men's shot put — an event Adam Kessler has become accustomed to winning. The senior heaved a victory toss measured at 60'-05.25" (18.42m) on his third throw of the finals. The mark stood in first for the remainder of the competition. It was his third-career MVC title in the event and the fifth conference crown of his collegiate career. Before transferring to SIU, Kessler swept the Ohio Valley Conference shot put titles as a sophomore.

With the win, Kessler has placed first in the shot put in each of the three MVC Championships events he has competed in.

In the women's shot put, A'veun Moore-Jones was slated for third place through four throws in the finals. But in her fifth and final attempt, she hurled a toss of 50'-11.00" (15.52m) that clinched her first-career Valley title and shot-put sweep for the Salukis.

Close behind Moore-Jones was another SIU sophomore, Kayleigh Conlon. She managed claim fifth with a massive personal-best heave of 50'-00.75" (15.26m). Her previous long in the shot was 48'-6.25" (14.79m).

"Double wins on the shot put from Adam Kessler and A'veun was huge," Joseph said. "It's always fun to win the same event from each gender."

Caleb Vogel's first-career MVC title in the high jump was SIU's final conference victory of day two. The DuQuoin, Ill. native was perfect through his first five jump attempts, which started at 6'-03.6" (1.92m) and ended at 6'-09.75" (2.08m). After failing to clear 6'-11" (2.11m), he was in a three-way for first, but was awarded the victory due to having the least amount of faults of the three prior to the final round of jumps.

Willie Rodgers placed fourth overall in the event with a best jump of 6'-08.75" (2.08m).

Freshman McKenzie Krich pulled off a PR of 5'-05.75 (1.67m) in women's high-jump action to place fourth, while senior Justine Paton took sixth with the same height.

"It was great to see Caleb Vogel redeem himself from indoor season," Joseph said. "Willie and Gunnar had solid performances and the women did a nice job of making it a tough high jump battle as well."

In addition to the four MVC titles noted above, SIU tallied two impressive second-place finishes.

Freshman Kayla Schiera went into the 3000-meter steeplechase with the conference's fifth-best time. But in the finals event, Schiera ran a remarkable 10:27.54 to place second. Her mark was the third-fastest in the school history and a 12-second PR.

Theo Phipps earned second overall in the men's long jump with a length of 23'-10.25" (7.27m). The mark was a PR for the sophomore who had previously not surpassed 23'-2" (7.06m). Mitchell Bland finished seventh in the event behind Phipps with a jump of 22'-01.50" (6.74m).

Phipps also competed in the men's 110-meter hurdles and qualified for the finals with a time of 14.79.

"Theo Phipps managed himself really well to be able to put a jump out early (PR) and make people chase him," Joseph said. "As we knew, he had to go take care of the hurdles. He did a great job coming out second in the long jump and qualifying for the hurdle final. It was also good to see Mitchell in an MVC long jump final. Moving up from projected rankings and securing a spot in the final was key points for the team, especially since we chose not to do triple events for Willie Rodgers."

In preliminaries action, the several Saluki women qualified for tomorrow's finals events.

Tyjuana Eason (11.87), Bri'Anna Branch (11.88), and Tredaja Harris (11.97) all qualified for the 100-meter dash finals. In an interesting turn of events, Harris was required to re-run her prelims in the 100m, along with every other competitor in her heat except the winner (Branch). Harris went on to win the re-run, which guaranteed her a spot in the finals.

Both Genesis Ewell and Alicia Reed earned trips to the finals in the 400-meter dash. Ewell, one of the Valley's top threats in the 400m, ran the second-fastest prelims time (55.16). Reed finished with an even time of 57.00 to take seventh in the prelims.

In the 400-meter hurdles, both Savannah Long (1:02.70) and Kira Williams (1:03.97) punched their ticket to the finals. Long's mark was the fastest qualifying time and Williams earned a PR.

Long, along with Meyer, qualified for finals in the 100-meter hurdles as well. Long hurdled to a time of 14.32, which was just 0.2 seconds shy of her PR in the event. Meyer finished with a mark of 14.63, to take the eight-seed into Sunday's round.

In men's prelims action, Salukis in the 110-meter hurdles and 800-meter run qualified for the finals.

Kevin Turner took fifth in the 110m hurdles with a time of 14.79, while Canoy Tyree took the eighth spot in the 800m (1:54.20).

SIU is back in action tomorrow for day three at the MVC Championships. The final day of competition will commence at 9:00 a.m. CT with the women's long jump.

For the latest updates on the Salukis at the MVC Championships, follow the team on Twitter (@SIUTrackXC), Instagram (@SIUTrackXC) and Facebook (@SalukiTrackAndField).

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