This weekend the SIU Track and Field team split its athletes up and sent them across the country to attend different relay meets.

Multi-event athletes, sprinters, hurdlers and field athletes headed down to Texas, while distance runners headed to North Carolina.

Senior Josh Maier kicked it off for Southern at the Raleigh Relays, competing in the 10k at the meet. Maier earned an 11th place finish in the event after clocking a personal best time of 28:55.43.

This time moved the senior up to the third best time on the Saluki All-Time List and makes Maier the third athlete in program history to run a sub-29 time in the 10k.

Senior distance runner Megan Krolak followed her teammate in Raleigh as she clocked a personal best time of 10:46.38 in the 3000 meter steeplechase. While Krolak placed 23rd out of the 56 runners, she now leads the MVC in the event.

Junior steeplechaser Chris Edwards clocked a time of 9:50.23 in his event and currently holds the second fastest time in the MVC for the steeplechase.

At the Texas Relays, ten Salukis competed along with 7,000 other athletes over the course of four days.

In the women’s hammer throw, sophomore Shauniece O’Neal lit up the circle for SIU when she completed a personal best throw of 212 feet 9 inches.

The toss earned O’Neal a second place finish behind a post collegiate athlete and moved her into the tenth place spot on the Saluki All-Time List. After this weekend, the sophomore sits in the number one seed position in the MVC and the number six seed in the NCAA West Region.

Senior Adam Kessler recorded a sixth place finish in the shot put on the men’s side with a toss of 18.80 meters.

Junior Madison Meyer was the only multi-event female athlete to compete for Southern this weekend in Texas. Meyer placed 10th in the heptathlon and recorded personal best marks in three of the seven events.

In the sprints, senior Bri’Anna Branch ran a personal best time of 11.11 seconds in the 100 meter dash.

After competing at the Texas Relays, the Dawgs headed over to Texas State to compete in the Bobcat Invitational.

In the thrower’s circle, O’Neal took center stage again as she earned second place after a post-collegiate athlete in the hammer throw. The sophomore threw the weight 63.07 meters out.

On the men’s side, senior Nate Dyer finished second after a post-collegiate athlete throwing the hammer 62.17 meters out. His teammate and fellow senior Ricky Hurley placed fourth in the event with a toss of 60.08 meters.

In the field, Meyer took home a sixth place finish in the long jump out of 46 competitors, while senior Justine Patton placed fourth in the high jump when she cleared a bar set at 1.65 meters.

Junior Genesis Ewell and Branch led the way for the sprinters as both runners earned a top three finish in their respective events.

Ewell took home a third place finish in the 400 meter dash after clocking a time of 55.16 seconds, while Branch stole the show recording a huge personal best time in the 200 meter dash of 23.19 seconds to earn a second place finish out of nearly 90 runners. The senior now holds the top time in the MVC and the sixth fastest time in the NCAA West Region.

Sophomore thrower A’veun Moore took home second place in the shot put at the invitational with a toss of 15.23 meters.

After this weekend’s meets, the Dawgs now hold the number one position in 14 events in the MVC.

SIU Track and Field will be back in action on April 11 as they head in again to compete in the Tennessee Relays at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. 

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

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