TERRE HAUTE – Track and Field swept gold in 11 events, not including 19 other top three finishes, during this year’s John Gartland Team Invitational at Indiana State in Terre Haute, Indiana.

This meet was the third of the season for the Dawgs and they entered into the weekend coming off of several outstanding performances at the University of Kentucky’s Jim Green Invitational.

Teams attending this indoor invitational included host team Indiana State University, DePaul University, Valparaiso University, Missouri State University and Western Illinois University. Three of the six women’s teams, along with the Salukis, are members of the Missouri Valley Conference, while two are MVC members on the men’s side.

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“I’m really excited about seeing some teams in the conference for the very first time,” said SIU Director of Track and Field Rosalind Joseph. “[Being] able to be in a meet with our conference competitors so early on will help us prepare for the MVC championship down the road.”

Both the men and women’s teams earned second overall in the meet to Indiana State with the men scoring 116 total points and the women scoring 127 total points.

24 of the women’s points were scored by junior Genesis Ewell who led the way for the women’s sprints placing first in the 400 meter dash with a time of 57.38 seconds and placing third in the 200 meter dash with a time of 25.62 seconds.

Ewell was also apart of Southern’s first place 1600 meter relay team, running the second leg.

Senior Tyjuana Eason and junior Savannah Long also added to the Saluki sprints effort with one second place finish each.

Eason earned her second place finish in the 60 meter dash running a time of 7.59 seconds, which was just a fraction of a second away from Indiana State’s first place finisher, who ran a time of 7.58 seconds.

Long earned her second place finish and a personal best time in the 400 meter dash, coming in just after her fellow teammate to clock a time of 58.38 seconds.

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In addition, Long also ran the first leg in the 1600 meter relay alongside Ewell.

Sophomore middle distance runners Canoy Tyree and Johnny McGluen were the game changers for the men’s sprints as they were both apart of the first place 1600 meter relay team and also took home wins in their respective events.

McGluen earned his first place finish in the 400 meter dash running a time of 50.20 seconds, while Tyree earned his in the 800 meter run clocking a time of 1:56.19.

Freshman long distance runner Reid Parsons added another first place finish to the men’s running effort after he won the 5000 meter run with a time of 15:33.26.

For the jumpers, junior Willie Rodgers led the way for the second week in a row after scoring top three finishes in three separate events.

Rodger’s won the triple jump with a leap of 14.04 meters and placed second in both the long and high jump.

Sophomore high jumper Caleb Vogel also added to the SIU jumps effort as he won the event and took over the spot for best mark in the MVC.

The leap of 2.10 meters was also a personal best for the young high jumper.

Senior high jumper Justine Patton and junior long-jumper Madison Meyer earned 12 combined points for the women after each earned a third place finish in their events.

Southern’s throwers continued to dominate this weekend taking home top three finishes in every throwing event.

On the women’s end, junior Alexis Roberson notched a personal best toss of 21.21 meters in the weight throw that moved her passed Sasha Leeth to become number seven on the Saluki All-Time list.

Roberson won the weight throw and is currently ranked tenth overall in the NCAA for this event.

Sophomores A’veun Moore and Kayleigh Conlon took second and third in the shot put to top off the women’s throws.

The men’s throws swept both the weight throw and the shot put having a Saluki placing first, second and third in each event.

Senior Adam Kessler won the shot put for SIU on a toss of 18.04 meters, while his teammates sophomore Sam Sikon and senior Ricky Hurley came in second and third. Kessler is currently ranked number ten in the NCAA for this event.

In the weight throw, Hurley stole the show for Southern winning the event and taking the number one ranking in the MVC with a toss of 18.66 meters.

Kessler finished second behind Hurley, while their fellow senior teammate Nate Dyer finished in third.

“I really liked seeing our team compete against other schools in the conference,” Joseph said. “It gave our staff an indicator of how we matchup and more importantly, it gave our team a chance to see where they matchup.”

The Dawgs will be back in action next weekend in Bloomington, Indiana at the Indiana University Relays.

Sports reporter Tamar Mosby can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @mosbytamar.

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