Track and Field teams sweep meet titles at SIU Spring Classic
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Southern Illinois men's and women's track and field teams braved the unpredictable weather and swept the meet titles, won 19 events and picked up five NCAA regional-qualifying marks at the SIU Spring Classic Saturday at the Lew Hartzog Track.
Both teams won big to open the outdoor season, the men taking the meet title by 134 points finishing with 260 points followed by Wisconsin-Milwaukee with 126. Illinois State (114.5), SEMO (98) and Illinois (75.5) finished in third, fourth and fifth respectively.
The women took their title with 229 points, followed by Illinois State with 181 points and SEMO with 114. Wisconsin-Milwaukee finished with 92 points good for fourth place and Bradley finished fifth with 46.
In the field events, Malaikah Love won both the long jump and triple jump titles in the first outdoor meet of her career. The freshman jumped 19-04 (5.89m) in the long jump and 39-09.25 (12.12m) in the triple jump.
Judeka Adams finished second behind Love in the triple with a leap of 38-05 (11.71m).
Other top three finishes in the field for the women included a second-place finish by Gwen Berry in the shot put with a throw of 44-05.25 (13.54m) and a third-place finish in the discus from Jeneva McCall with a best toss of 149-10 (45.68m)
Friday night, the meet started with both teams sweeping the hammer throw titles posting four regional qualifying marks. Sasha Leeth won on the women's side with a toss of 190-11 (58.20m), followed by Rickael Roach in second (186-05 - 56.83m) and Berry in third (180-08 - 55.07m).
Joe Paradiso won the men's hammer with a regional-qualifying mark of 196-01 (59.77m), followed by Ryan Shumaker in second (181-07 - 55.35m) and J.C. Lambert in third (179-04 - 54.66m).
Tom Smith won two events for the Salukis taking a meet title in the shot put with toss of 52-10.75 (16.12m) and winning the javelin with a toss of 173-03 (52.81m). Paradiso finished second in the shot put behind Smith with a throw of 50-07.25 (15.42m).
Jake Dieters wrapped up the throws winning the discus with a regional-qualifying throw of 169-09 (51.09m).
In the men's jumps, Geoffrey Daniel won the triple jump with a leap of 46-00 (14.02m), while Maxim Bakana and Johnny Teufel picked up third-place finishes in their respective events. Bakana jumped 22-03.75 (6.80m) in the long jump and Tuefel cleared 6-02.75 (1.90m) in the high jump.
In the pole vault, Cody Doerflein and Tim Robberstad finished one, two. Doerflein cleared 15-07 (4.75m) and Robberstad, 15-01 (4.60m).
The men won five running events, led by sprinter Stevie Warren who picked up the 100-meter dash title in 11.05, finished second in the 200-meter dash in 22.06, ran the second leg of the winning 4x400-meter relay (3:22.33) with Willie Knox,Stephen Arvanis and Justin C. Kozak and the opening leg of the second-place 4x100-meter relay (42.03) with Knox, Trenton McKinney and Kozak.
Knox went on to win the 400-hurdles in 54.14 and placed third in the 110-hurdles in 15.38, while Kozak finished third in the 100 dash in 11.36.
In the distance events, cross country All-American Jeff Schirmer won the 5,000-meter run in 14:39.05 and Jason Ordway took the 3,000-meter steeplechase title in a time of 9:18.01. Brad Wrage finished third in the steeplechase in 9:34.42 and Kyle Kirchner placed second in the 1,500 in a time of 3:57.29.
In the women's sprints, Kendra Deck won the 400-hurdles in a time of 1:02.25 and anchored the winning 4x400 relay. Deck along with Nefeteri Williams, Alisa Baron and Connie Hicks finished first with a time of 3:54.03.
Williams (1:03.90) finished second and Hicks (1:04.86) finished third behind Deck in the hurdles.
Two-time All-American long jumper Bianca Stuart took a meet off from the jumps but contributed points in the sprints winning the 100 in a time of 12.36. She also ran the lead leg of the winning 4x100 relay with Meredith Hayes, Miracle Thompson and Love.
Hayes won the 100 hurdles in a time of 13.80, Terri Counts finishing second in 14.07.
In the women's distance events, Emily Toennies (4:44.02) finished second in the 1,500, while Ryan Eichelberger (5,000, 18:09.09) and Megan Hoelscher (3,000 steeplechase, 11:10.20) finished third in their events.
The Salukis return to action April 4 at the SEMOtion Relays in Cape Girardeau, Mo.