CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – SIUE track and field senior La'Derrick Ward defended his Ohio Valley Conference long jump title with a leap of 25 feet, 11.5 inches at the conference championships in Clarksville, Tennessee. Ward sits fourth nationally with the season best jump and second-best jump of his career.
"The OVC is solid in the jumps," said Head Coach Eileen McAllister. "La'Derrick knows he is going to have to work to win. He was challenged today and he responded."
A season ago, Ward posted a personal best jump of 26-3, which was the best mark recorded by any athlete all season.
Jessica Oranika set a new SIUE record in the 200 preliminaries at 23.85 seconds, winning her heat. The previous record was 23.93, set by Shelinda Brackett in 2008.
Julian Harvey won the high jump for the second year in a row, making him undefeated in the event at the conference championships. He cleared the bar at 6-9.5.
Ahmad Evans continued to shave time off of his 200 meter race, this time winning his heat in 20.90, which is a new No. 2 all-time at SIUE. Darius Smith earned the No. 3 all-time spot in the same race at 21.00, finishing second behind Evans in the preliminaries.
LaDonna Caston placed herself No. 3 on the all-time list in the 100 meter dash, qualifying for the finals with a time of 11.87.
"LaDonna was steadfast as she has been all season," said McAllister.
Megan Lauzon placed fourth in the discus with a toss of 145-7.
Travis Kidd placed fourth in the high jump, clearing the bar at 6-6 for a season best.
Martinus Mitchell and Greg Block finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the discus. Mitchell recorded a mark of 146-04 while Block finished with a throw of 143-04.
The distance teams had a solid start to day one, including a fifth-place finish from Erin Kennedy in the 10K. Luke Padesky, Nick Moore, and Tyler Owens finished fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively, with a personal best of over 22 seconds from Owens.
Keith Meyer and Scott Woodard both set personal bests in the steeplechase. Meyer finished fifth at 9:31.61, and Woodard recorded points in seventh at 9:39.72.
Other athletes qualifying in final events during day two were Caston in the 100m hurdles. Caston easily won her heat with a time of 13.51.
Oranika moves to the finals in the 400 meters by winning her heat in 55.61.
Brittany Thomas wins her heat in the 100 meters at 11.96 to compete in the finals in day two.
Derek Drew moves on and will compete in the 400-meter hurdles after a career-best performance of 53.56, finishing second in his heat.
Dalton Oakes set a personal best in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.49, which qualifies him for the finals in day two.
Matt O'Connor set a personal best by several seconds running 1:52.88 in the 800 meters. Despite the career-best race from the freshman, he missed the cut for finals by one-tenth of a second.
At the end of the day, the men's team sits in third place with 53.5 points. The women's team is seventh with nine points.
"I am proud of the team and happy with day one," said McAllister. "They were engaged and showed grit. It was a fun day and I feel confident about day two."
Day two of the OVC Championship begins Saturday at 11 a.m.
