April 4, 2009

By Shalae Patrick
www.siusalukis.com

Complete Results

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Southern Illinois track and field teams brought home five meet titles and 32 top-five finishes at the Joey Haines Invitational hosted by Southeast Missouri State Friday and Saturday.

The women won three meet titles, Sasha Leeth leading things off Friday with her second-straight hammer throw victory. Leeth threw a career-best regional qualifying mark 196-10 (60.00m) for the win. Teammates Rickael Roach (192-03, 58.59m), Gwen Berry (175-11, 53.62m) and Olga Ciura (162-03, 49.46m) finished second, third and fourth respectively, Roach also posting a regional mark.

Other wins for the women, included a victory for Alisa Baron in the 800-meter run in a time of 2:17.43. Kim Beardwood finished second in 2:18.13. Kendra Deck also won the 400-meter hurdles, finishing in 1:01.22. Nefeteri Williams finished fourth in 1:04.

Williams, Baron and Deck also teamed with Connie Hicks for a fourth-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay in a time of 3:54.71.

In the other throws for the women, Jeneva McCall finished second in the discus with a season-best throw of 153-06 (46.80m). Roach finished fifth at 146-10 (44.77m), also a season-best mark.

Berry also posted a season-best 47-03 (14.40m) in the shot put for second place. Teammate Jordan Harris finished fifth with a toss of 45-09 (13.94m). Jessica Vermeulen picked up a fourth-place finish in the javelin with a toss of 127-05 (38.84m), best on the team this season.

On the men's side, the Salukis won two meet titles. Tom Smith won the shot put with a season-best toss of 54-09.25 (16.69m), and Maxim Bakana won the triple jump with a best leap of 49-04.50 (15.05m).

SIU's Geoffrey Daniel finished third in the triple jump behind Bakana with a 48-10.25 (14.89m) mark. Fellow jumper Trenton McKinney also placed fifth in the long jump with a best jump of 23-05.25 (7.14m).

In the pole vault, Cody Doerflein (15-06, 4.72m) and Tim Robberstad (15-00, 4.57m) cleared their respective heights for third and fourth place in the event.

Throwers, Joe Paradiso, Joe Mueller and Smith finished fourth, fifth and sixth in the hammer. Paradiso threw 181-04 (55.28m), Mueller 179-10 (54.81m) and Smith 179-02 (54.61m). Smith then turned around to finish third in the javelin with a toss of 178-05 (54.39m).

Jake Dieters also threw 168-00 (51.21m) in the discus for third place.

In the running events, Greg McBride picked up the top finish for Southern, finishing in 4:00.48, good for second place in the 1,500-meter run. Fellow distance runner Tyler Bradford finished fifth in the 5,000 in 15:28.29.

In the sprints, Willie Knox ran 55.27 in the 400-meter hurdles good for third. He then teamed with Sammy Biggs, Stephen Arvanis and Stevie Warren to finish third in the 4x400 in 3:17.36.

Biggs and Warren, also ran with McKinney and Justin Kozak for another third-place finish. The four-some ran 41.82 in the 4x100-meter relay.

The Salukis return to action April 10-11 at the Sea Ray Relays in Knoxville, Tenn.