Men’s and women’s track recap

Rain or shine best describes the weekend for the SIUC men’s and women’s track and field teams.

While the women were battling fiercer competition from the weather than from its competitors at the Washington University Mini Meet in St. Louis Saturday, the men’s team was enjoying the pleasantly warm Alabama sunshine at the University of Alabama Relays in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

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A strong thunderstorm and barrage of rain finally stopped the Saluki women, but not until they secured a first-place finish out of 10 teams.

Led by six first-place finishes, the women’s team blew away the competition before the cancellation of the meet because of lightning.

Women’s coach Don DeNoon said the conditions played no factor in his team’s solid performance.

There was a strong wind and rain all day, DeNoon said. We just continued competing well during the rain and the wind. There was a lightning break, and we came back and continued to compete well until the meet was canceled.

Some of the Saluki competitors were unable to compete in their events, which could have added to the team’s 201 points.

Following the Salukis were Washington University with 100 points, Loras College (80), Lindenwood College (47) and Illinois State University (23).

It was not as competitive of a meet that we could have competed in, but the kids came up and competed well, DeNoon said.

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First-place finishers for the Salukis were freshmen Shaneka Williams in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.29 seconds and Jackie Bartlett in the 400-meter hurdles (1:09.13) and sophomore Leah Nolden in the 400-meter dash (1:00.81). Seniors Mindy Bruck in the 800-meter run (2:22.83), Raina Larsen in the 1,500-meter run (5:38.32) and Amy Stearns in the shot put with a toss of 40 feet 2.75 inches also grabbed first-place honors.

Other top finishers for the Salukis were freshmen Lashell Blissit in the 100-meter dash (13.11 seconds) and Becky Cox in the 800-meter run (2:23.63) with second-place finishes and sophomore Finda Fallah with a second-place finish in the long jump (17 feet 5 inches). Senior Kelly French (17:56.50) and junior Colleen Bouck (18:36.61) finished second and third respectively in the 5,000-meter run.

DeNoon hopes the meet will increase the confidence in some of his younger athletes.

I think it gave some encouragement to those kids, DeNoon said. We had a lot of positive things come out of this weekend.

While the women’s team was battling poor weather, the men’s team was enjoying fair weather at the University of Alabama.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather all weekend, men’s coach Bill Cornell said. I’ve never been on Alabama’s campus it was really beautiful. I’m going to keep this meet on the schedule.

The team finished 15th out of 22 teams but performed well against the solid competition with 19 season-best times. Troy State University won the meet with 31 points, followed by the University of Pittsburgh (29) and the University of Alabama (28). The Salukis finished with eight points.

Sophomore triple jumper/long jumper Brad Bowers led the way with an eighth-place season-best jump of 49 feet 1.75 inches in the triple jump and a 13th-place finish (23 feet 04 inches) in the long jump.

Other top performers were sophomore Michael Sandusky with a fifth-place finish in the hammer throw (160 feet 4 inches) and an eighth-place finish in the shot put (51 feet 1 inch).

Senior Orlando McKee finished 17th (21.84 seconds) in the 200-meter dash, while freshman Peter Forder came in 24th (22.00 seconds) out of 96 competitors. Forder had another 24th-place finish in the 400-meter dash (48.70 seconds) while junior Romante Archer came in 26th (48.73 seconds) out of 84 competitors. Senior Devyn Resmer finished second in the javelin (192 feet 5 inches) for the Salukis.

The men’s and women’s track and field team will compete at the All Sport Relays in Cape Girardeau, Mo., this weekend.