16 Salukis qualify for NCAA West Regional

05/16/2019 | 11:56:00 | Track and Field

SIU's 16 regional qualifiers are tied with Illinois State for most in the Valley.

By: Will Becque, SIUSalukis.com

The Southern Illinois track and field team will send 14 student-athletes to compete in 15 events at the 2019 NCAA West Preliminary Round, hosted by Sacramento State University. The three-day event begins on May 23 and concludes on May 25.

The Saluki women's team will send eight student-athletes while the men's team will send six to the Regional meet.

The top-48 individual and top-24 relay declarations within the East Region and West Region earned berths to their respective preliminary meet. Combined events (Heptathlon and Decathlon), are not contested at the preliminary sites.

Record-breaking sprinter Bri'Anna Branch will lead the way for the Saluki women after she broke both the outdoor 100- and 200-meter dash records at last weekend's MVC Outdoor Championships. The five-time MVC Champion qualified for the regional meet in both events for the second-straight season.

Eason will make her third-straight appearance at the regional meet after she qualified in the 100-meter dash. A'veun Moore-Jones, fresh off winning her first career MVC title in the shot put, qualified in her signature event for the second-straight season. Shaunieice O'Neal advanced to the regional meet for the second-consecutive season, doing so in both the discus and hammer throw.

Four Saluki women will make their regional meet debut this season- Kayla Schiera, Kayleigh Conlon, Nikki Freeman and Alexis Roberson.

The MVC Freshman of the Year, Schiera set a more than 11-second personal-best in the 3000-meter steeplechase at 10:27.54 to take second in the event at the conference outdoor meet. Conlon notched a personal-best in the shot put at 50'-.75" (15.26m) at the MVC outdoor meet to advance to her first regional meet.

Freeman will join O'Neal in the discus competition after she reached the podium for the second-straight outdoor conference meet in the event. Roberson advanced to her first regional meet in the hammer after she threw 190'-7" (58.08m) at the Billy Hayes Invitational on May 3.

The Saluki men are led by a pair of throwers who qualified for the regional meet for the second-straight season. Ricky Hurley and Nate Dyer will compete next weekend after they went 1-2 in the hammer for the second-consecutive year at the outdoor conference meet.

Josh Maier, who won both the 1500-meter and the 5000-meter at last weekend's conference meet and broke a 38-year old MVC 5K record in the process, advanced to his first regional meet in the 10K. Maier is one of four first-time regional qualifiers on the men's side.

Willie Rodgers reached the podium in the triple jump at a conference meet for the second time this season and will compete in the event at his first regional competition. Adam Kessler, who won his fourth MVC title at this year's conference outdoor meet, will throw the shot put while Theo Phipps will compete in the 110-meter hurdles. Phipps reached the podium at his second-straight conference meet to move on to his first regional competition.

Since the two-region format began in 2010, SIU has now sent a total of 206 student-athletes (89 men, 117 women) to compete at the first-round championships.

The top 12 competitors from each event in the West Regional will advance to the 2019 NCAA National Championships June 5-8 at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas.