This past weekend, the Southern Illinois University track and field program competed in the MVC track and field championship, which took place Feb. 26-28 at Northern Iowa University. 

The women’s program finished second overall, while the men’s program placed sixth. 

Friday, Feb. 26

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The Saluki women’s track team sat in first place with 40 points, second place was Northern Iowa with 24 points and third place was Illinois State with 18 points.

Junior thrower Shauniece O’Neal, who competed in the weight throw, threw her all-time personal best and third-longest in the program’s history, 22.72m on her first attempt. 

Freshman sprinter Iuania Pointer finished second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.89 and she advanced to Sunday’s final.

Junior distance runner Kayla Schiera took fourth place in the 5000-meter run with a time of 17:27.07, with freshman distance runner Rachel Anderson finishing in eight and freshman distance runner Stephanie Anthoines finishing in 13th.

The Saluki men’s track team was in eighth place with eight points. Northern Iowa was in first place with 39 points, Indiana State was in second with 27 points and Drake in third with 24 points.

Freshman distance runner Ethan Senti won fourth place in the 5200-meter run with a personal best time of 15:43.05. Junior distance runner Reid Parsons finished eight and freshman distance runner Uriah Guthrie finished 11.

Saturday, Feb. 27

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The Saluki women’s track team remained in first place on the second day of the championship with 96 points, Illinois State and Indiana State are tied for second place with 56 points.

Three Salukis secured individual titles: redshirt senior multi Madison Meyer, senior pole vaulter Erin Diemer and senior thrower A’veun Moore-Jones.

This was Meyer’s third-straight title in the pentathlon with 3,340 points, which makes her the first person in SIU’s program history to win this event three years in a row.

Diemer won the pole vault clearing 3.91m; this was her first title and Moore-Jones won shot-put with a throw of 15.86 m.

Senior hurdler Savannah Long qualified for the Sunday final in the 60-meter hurdles with a time 8.81 seconds.

The men’s track team was in seventh place with 15 points, while Northern Iowa was in first place with 73 points, Illinois State was in second place with 68 points and Indiana State was in third place with 60 points.

Sophomore sprinter Kyle Lind advanced to the Sunday final in the 60-meter dash after placing fourth with a time of 8.19 seconds.

Sunday, Feb. 28

The women’s track team finished second overall with a total of 118 team points. Illinois State finished in first place with 138 team points and Northern Iowa finished in third place with 107 points.

Pointer placed second in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.52 second and in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.68. She was named twice in All-Conference accolades.

O’Neal was named the MVC’s Most Outstanding Field Athlete after winning the weight throw on Saturday, with a throw of 22.72 m

The men’s team finished in sixth place with a total of 31 points. Northern Iowa won first place with 167.5 points, Indiana State came in second place with 170 points and Illinois State finished in third place with 138 points.

Junior high jumper Dawson Plab finished third in the high jump with a jump of 2.06 m. This was the second time he reached the podium in his career. 

The NCAA National Championship for men and women’s track and field will be held on Mar. 11-13 in Fayetteville, Ark. 

Staff reporter Janae Mosby can be reached at jmosby@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @mosbyj.

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