Southern Illinois University
NCAA Outdoor Championships
Three Salukis set to compete at NCAA Championships
06/08/2021 | 11:25:00 | Track and Field
The Southern Illinois University track and field team kicks off day one of the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Wednesday at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. The championship meet is slated to run Wednesday, June 9 through Saturday, June 12.Â
Ricky Hurley (hammer throw), Shauniece O'Neal (hammer throw) and A'Veun Moore-Jones (shot put) will represent the Salukis at the national meet. Hurley will compete first, as he throws Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. CT. O'Neal is in the second of two flights in the women's hammer, which gets underway Thursday at 3 p.m. Moore-Jones, meanwhile, will throw first in the second flight of the women's shot put which is slated for a 7:40 p.m. start time.
All three Salukis have competed at a NCAA Championship meet before, as O'Neal qualified for the national meet for the third time in her career while Hurley and Moore-Jones will each make their second appearance at the national meet.
Hurley took eighth in the hammer throw at the NCAA West Preliminary Round with a toss of 218'-9" (66.69m) to qualify for the second time in his career. The redshirt senior had a remarkable outdoor season for the Salukis in which he won his third-straight MVC hammer throw title to join SIU throws coach J.C. Lambert as the only Salukis to accomplish the feat. Earlier in the season, Hurley broke SIU's all-time hammer throw mark at the Rock Chalk Classic with a toss of 224'-2" (68.33m).Â
O'Neal is a three-time national qualifier who earned All-America First Team honors during the 2021 indoor season after she placed seventh in the weight throw. The Florissant, Mo. native has been on a tear during the outdoor season, as she finished no worse than fifth in any of the seven meets she threw the hammer at, which included a first place finish to take home her first MVC hammer throw title.
A three-time MVC Champion, Moore-Jones advanced to the national meet for the second time in her career after she placed 10th in the shot at the NCAA Prelims with a mark of 55'-1.5" (16.80m). The Mount Vernon, Ill. native is peaking at the right time, as she has set personal-bests at back-to-back championship events. Moore-Jones threw 54'-9.25" (16.69m) to win the MVC shot put title on May 14, and followed with a PR of 55'-1.5" (16.80m) at the NCAA West Prelims.Â
The Salukis have scored the most points of any NCAA DI program since women's hammer throw was added as a NCAA event in 1996. Southern's 74 points ranks ahead of Southern California (69), South Carolina (61) and Georgia (61) for most all-time. SIU's three national championships in the event are tied with South Carolina, Georgia and Southern Methodist for most all-time while Southern's 13 All-Americans in the event are tied for the most with USC.
To follow the Salukis pursuit of national titles, fans can tune in to ESPN3 for a live broadcast of the meet. A meet schedule is available here (PDF), live results can be found here and links to ESPN's broadcast are here.
Players Mentioned
