CHARLESTON, Ill. – The SIUE track and field program withstood some challenging weather conditions at the Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Championships Saturday and had several athletes earn the title of conference champion.
On the men's side, Darius Smith took home first place honors in the 100 meters, Braxton Klavins finished first in the 400 meters, and Josh Thomas was crowned OVC champ in the 400 meter hurdles. The men's 4x100 meter relay team of Smith, Klavins, Ahmad Evans and Davinn Smith earned first-place accolades as well.
On the women's side, Jatavia Wright won the triple jump with a mark of 40 feet, 3.5 inches. The sophomore also placed second in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 14.25.
Outside of Klavins, none of the Cougars' conference champions were seeded first heading into their events, something that impressed Head Coach Kareem Jackson.
"Anytime you can finish first, it means a lot," Jackson said. "It definitely was something that our team was able to feed off of having numerous first place finishers on the podium. We ask a lot of our athletes, and it means a lot to call yourself an OVC champion. It takes a lot of work to accomplish that."
The SIUE men finished third out of seven teams with 131.5 points, while the Cougar women finished fourth out of 11 teams with 99 points. Host Eastern Illinois finished first in both the men's (222.5 pts.) and women's (145.5 pts.) competition.
"I'm really excited about how we performed," Jackson said. "We've come a long way from the indoor season to the outdoor season, but we still have a lot of room to improve. We compete in a very competitive conference and we can't take anything for granted."
Darius Smith took the top spot in the 100 meters with a first-place finish of 10.74 seconds. Smith edged Eastern Illinois' Kaleel Johnson by just .01 seconds to take the top spot.
Klavins finished first in the 400 meters with a time of 48.01, after he finished second at OVC Indoor Championships in the event. EIU's Cody Boarman finished second in 48.68.
Thomas was named conference champion in the 400 meter hurdles after he finished first in a time of 53.17 seconds. It was a season-best finish for the Galesburg, Ill., native, who finished ahead of EIU's Dominique Hall who finished second in 53.64.
The men's 4x100 meter relay also earned the top spot on the podium by winning its race in 41.28 seconds. Darius Smith ran the anchor leg to seal the victory, once again finishing ahead of Eastern Illinois by .01 seconds.
SIUE had a host of other medalists on both the men's and women's side. Overall, the Cougars had 21 top-three finishes over the two-day meet.
In the men's field events, sophomore La'Derrick Ward finished second in the triple jump with a mark of 47-1.75, while fellow sophomore Greg Block finished second in the shot put with a throw of 53-1.
In the 200 meters, Evans (21.56), Darius Smith (21.73), and Klavins (21.94) finished second, third, and fourth, respectively. The men's 4x400 meter relay team of Evans, Klavins, Smith, and Smith also finished second with a time of 3:15.87.
On the women's side, Elizabeth Hampl (175-7) and Colleen McDonough (169-10) finished second and third, respectively, in the hammer throw. Hampl was originally in first place but Murray State's Tonia Pratt moved into the top spot with her final throw of 176-7. McDonough also placed second in the shot put with a mark of 47-7.75. In the triple jump, Michelle Higgins finished third with a leap of 38-8.75.
In women's track events, Aftan Noon placed second in the 1,500 meters with a finish of 4:34.56, while Jessica Oranika finished third in the 400 meters with a time of 55.73. Ciara Turner also finished third in the 400 meter hurdles (1:02.40).
Several Cougar athletes will now begin preparing for NCAA West Preliminaries in Austin, Texas May 24-26. Currently qualified to compete in the meet on the women's side are McDonough and Hampl in the women's hammer throw, as well as Wright in the triple jump, long jump, and the 100 meter hurdles. On the men's side, Ward is currently qualified in the long jump along with Darius Smith and Evans in the 100 meters and Evans in the 200 meters.
"Our athletes must be committed to getting better over the summer," Jackson added. "We understand that in order to make that next step to being a really successful program, it's going to have to start with our summer training."
First Team All-Conference (First Place Finishers)
Braxton Klavins – Men's 400 Meters
Darius Smith – Men's 100 Meters
Josh Thomas – Men's 400 Meter Hurdles
Klavins, Smith, Ahmad Evans, Davinn Smith – Men's 4x100 Meter Relay
Jatavia Wright – Women's Triple Jump
Second Team All-Conference (Second Place Finishers)
Ahmad Evans – Men's 200 Meters
Ahmad Evans, Davinn Smith, Darius Smith, and Braxton Klavins – Men's 4x400 Meter Relay
La'Derrick Ward – Men's Long Jump / Men's Triple Jump
Claire Brown – Women's 3,000 Meter Steeplechase
Aftan Noon – Women's 1,500 Meters
Jatavia Wright – Women's 100 Meter Hurdles
Elizabeth Hampl – Women's Hammer Throw
Colleen McDonough – Women's Shot Put
Third Team All-Conference (Third Place Finishers)
Darius Smith – Men's 200 Meters
Jamil Mashni – Men's Discus
Greg Block – Men's Shot Put
Jessica Oranika – Women's 400 Meters
Ciara Turner – Women's 400 Meter Hurdles
Colleen McDonough – Women's Hammer Throw
Michelle Higgins – Women's Triple Jump
