As the hot summer begins, five SIU track members are still practicing for the national championship in Eugene, Ore., and hope to bring home the gold.

Throwers Josh Freeman, Curtis Wideman, Ashley Gaston and Alexus Scott, along with jumper Kyle Landon, will all be wearing maroon and white for the Dawgs and will compete June 11-14.

“I’m prepared for it; it’s something I wanted to accomplish last year,” Gaston said

Throwers coach John Smith said he thinks his team is ready for the challenge.

“Nothing has changed in our practices for nationals, just plan on doing the same thing,” Smith said.

Landon is a southern Illinois native from Chester, where he was the 2013 Gatorade Illinois Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year. He was nationally ranked number two in the indoor high jump and number three in the outdoor high jump his senior year.

“I’ll pretty much be practicing the same way I have been,” Landon said.

Head coach Connie Price-Smith said she thinks the team will do well.

“They’ve worked really hard to get where they want and I’m sure they will go out and compete well,” Smith said.

Gaston, whose personal record is 16.22 meters,says the training will mostly be the same for nationals.

“I just will have to focus on little details except for my spin but other than that everything will be the same, just cleaning up some stuff before nationals,” Gaston said.

She will be throwing shot put and said her biggest motivation is her sister, Aurieyal Gaston, who was an NCAA Championship runner.

“She always told me told me I could make it in the nationals, just like she did,” Gaston said.

Freeman was the Missouri Valley Conference outdoor shot put champion his freshman year and has won eight shot put titles since his first season.

“It’s exciting, I think, all the work that we’ve done to this point and this season, so I’m pretty ready to go out there and compete as well as I can,” Freeman said.

Smith said Freeman was the best sophomore in the country.

Freeman has also has set records for SIU, such as the indoor shot put record of 19.43 meters. His record now stands at 19.86 meters for outdoor shot put.

Smith believes that next year’s group of throwers could possibly be the best group he will have.

Freeman said the experience and talent that will be on the 2014 team will help make them the best group he’s ever been with.

“Over the season, a lot of our throws have developed a lot, so I think with all the talent coming back hopefully we’ll have an even better season next year,” Freeman said.

Marcus Gruwell can be reached at [email protected] or 536-3311 ext.