Being heavily outnumbered was not a factor in SIUC sophomore Brad Bowers’ thought process as he made a season-best jump of 23 feet and 4 1/2 inches to win the long jump competition Saturday at the Purdue Invitational.

Bowers led the SIUC men’s track and field team to a second-place finish, while the Saluki women finished third.

Bowers, a sophomore from Freeport, said he was pleased with his victory in the long jump competition.

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Bowers finished fifth with a jump of 22 feet 5.25 inches in that meet.

SIUC Men’s coach Bill Cornell said Bowers’ work ethic was what pushed him ahead for the victory.

He’s been working very hard, Cornell said. Obviously, he did a lot of work while he was at home with both long jump and the triple jump.

Since Cornell could take only 17 athletes to the meet because of injuries and unpreparedness, Bowers’ jump played a major factor in the outcome of the meet.

Cornell said the low number of athletes he brought performed well for him.

I took 17 men on the trip. Purdue has 52 on their team, Cornell said. The athletes I took performed admirably. Each individual gave all they had. They really showed a lot of heart.

Bowers said that with the low number of athletes competing, everyone was forced to step up their performance.

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We were looking for outstanding individual performances because we didn’t have many relays, Bowers said. You always want to do well to help your team out.

Other top performers were junior Baye Wilson with a first-place finish in the 600-meter run (1:22.64) and junior Jeremy Parks, who took first place in the 3,000-meter run (8:37.80).

Freshman Peter Forder placed second in the 200-meter dash (22.58) while sophomore Noam Darsa placed second in the 800-meter run (1:55.38).

Junior Romante Archer finished second in the 400-meter run (49.81), and junior Elliot Young finished second in the high jump (6 feet 9 inches).

The Salukis were out of contention for a first-place finish, but they held off the rest of the field with some gutsy performances by the short-handed team.

The Salukis finished with 54 points, behind Purdue University, which finished with 141 points. SIUC was followed by North Central College with 24 points, Ball State University with 21 points and Wheeling Jesuit with a score of 15.

Bowers said it was a positive meet for everyone as a team and as individuals.

I feel we did well as a team, Bowers said. I didn’t think we could actually win with the few people we brought. It was a good experience for many of us, though.

While the men’s team provided a good showing, the women’s team could not duplicate the men’s performance.

With only one first-place finisher, senior Kelly French in the mile (5:00.50), the women finished third with 18 points. Purdue took first place in a hard-fought battle with Ball State, 75-68.

The Salukis — fresh off their upset victory at the SIU Booster Club Invite Jan. 16 over Georgia Tech University, Mississippi State University and Southeast Missouri State University — could not repeat such a performance a week later.

SIUC women’s coach Don DeNoon said the meet became a dual meet between Purdue and Ball State.

We just went up against two teams that were superior to us on that given day, DeNoon said. Our team just couldn’t respond.

The men’s and women’s track and field teams return to action at the Butler Invitational Saturday in Indianapolis.