Bahamians dominate at Illini Classic

Bahamians dominate at Illini Classic

By Terrance Peacock

The SIU men and women’s track team collected two event wins, both from jumpers, en route to a second-place finish Saturday at the Illini Classic.

Bahamian natives junior Kenya Culmer and junior Dougie Palacious paced the Salukis with first-place finishes in the high jump and long jump respectively.

Culmer finished with a 1.73 meter jump after five attempts, which added to her impressive indoor season start.

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This is the third consecutive first place finish in the high jump for Culmer, the Missouri Valley Conference high jump champion.

She also jumped 11.86 meters in the triple jump, which placed her second behind Western Kentucky’s Ana Camargo’s jump of 12.16 meters.

Palacious, the reigning co-MVC Athlete of the Week, jumped 6.84 meters in the long jump to notch his first title of the year.

Palacious is also the MVC triple jump champion, and placed second at the Illini Classic in the triple jump with a 14.57 meter jump.

Junior Matthew Benes also had a successful meet with a second-place finish in the 60 meter hurdles. The 2011-2012 MVC scholar-athlete team member finished with a time of 8.16 seconds, almost three-tenths of a second behind first place.

Sophomore Lauren Cheadle also performed impressively. Cheadle placed second in the long jump with a jump of 5.25 meters, which was less than half a meter behind first place.

Senior sprinter Raequel Jacobs struggled in the 200 meter dash with a clocked 27.20 seconds. This placed her 19th among 22 runners.

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Freshman jumper Jalen Woods also had a subpar performance during the weekend. Woods placed last in the long jump at 6.07 meters.

The Salukis will continue their indoor season Friday for the two-day Rod McCravy Invitational at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Ky.

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