KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
DES MOINES, IOWA – Felisha Johnson and Maurice Lyke became MVC Champions on the second day of the 2013 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships Saturday as Johnson won the women's shot put and Lyke captured the men's long jump.
Johnson won her first MVC shot put title in four attempts with a throw of 57'-11” (17.65m). The senior was third a year ago. Illinois State's Brittany Smith was second at 57'-0¼” (17.38m) with Southern Illinois' Kim Fortney third at 53'-3¾” (16.25m). Indiana State freshman Whitney Walker finished 11th at 44'-8” (13.61m) with fellow freshman Katelyn Rutz 15th at 43'-2¼” (13.16m).
Lyke soared to a career best 24'-5¾” (7.46m) on his final attempt to take the title away from Wichita State's Austin Bahner who finished second with a distance of 23'-11” (7.29m). Lyke's distance ranks seventh on the Sycamore all-time list breaking a tie the junior had with Bobby Brown who went 24'-4½” (7.43m) in 1983. Robert Webb, competing in his seventh event of the day, was 11 th at 22'-4¼” (6.81m).
With nine events scored in the women's team standings, Wichita State leads with 94 points followed by Indiana State (72.50), Southern Illinois (65), Illinois State (56), Northern Iowa (34.50), Missouri State (17), Bradley (6), and Drake (6).
With eight events scored in the men's team standings, Wichita State leads with 88 points followed by Southern Illinois (78), Indiana State (60), Drake (33), Northern Iowa (26), Illinois State (20) and Bradley (7).
Even though the Sycamore men and women trail in the team standings heading into the final day both teams qualified the most individuals through the preliminaries Saturday afternoon. The Sycamore men had 14 move on to the finals while Wichita State had nine, Northern Iowa eight, Southern Illinois and Illinois State six each, and Drake five. Indiana State's women qualified nine into the Sunday finals while Drake had eight, Missouri State and Northern Iowa seven each, Wichita State and Illinois State six each, Southern Illinois four, and Bradley one.
Indiana State had all three competitors in the men's shot put finish in the top eight led by Chris Fields who finished second in the event with a distance of 54'-4¾” (16.58m). Sean Dennis threw his collegiate best of 52'-1¼” (15.88m) to place sixth with Derek Bunch going 51'-1¼” (15.70m) to place eighth.
Three Sycamores scored points in the women's long jump and two of them established career bests with their efforts. Carmelia Stewart posted the fifth best jump in Indiana State history as she soared 19'-8” (5.99m) to place third while Kaisha Martin moved into a tie for seventh on the Sycamore all-time list with a distance of 19'-4¾” (5.91m) to place fourth. Kelly Steffen was seventh with a distance of 18'-7¼” (5.67m) just hours after competing in the heptathlon long jump. Kimsue Grant of Missouri State won the event at 20'-9¼” (6.33m).
Robert Webb was the top finisher in the men's high jump for Indiana State as he cleared 6'-6” (1.98m) to place sixth. Brett Wehmiller also cleared 6'-6” (1.98m) and was judge eighth while Jamal Hampton cleared 6'-4” (1.93m) to finish 12th. Drake's Ryan Cook won the competition by clearing 6'-9¾” (2.08m).
Ioanna Koltsidou led the Sycamore effort in the women's high jump as she placed fourth in her first MVC Championship by clearing 5'-7” (1.70m). Kalyn Davis tied for fifth by clearing 5'-5” (1.65m) and Rachael Johnson was eighth at 5'-3” (1.60m). Katie Beckavac also cleared 5'-3” (1.60m) and was judged ninth while Audrey Hawthorne tied for 13th by clearing 5'-1” (1.55m). Wichita State's Ashley Petersen won the event at 5'-9¼” (1.76m).
In the only two running events to be scored on the day, Dustin Betz finished second in the men's 3,000 meter steeplechase with a time of 9:00.95 with Taylor Head placing sixth in 9:13.42. Kalli Dalton led Indiana State in the women's 3,000 meter steeplechase by finishing fifth in 10:59.07 despite a near catastrophic fall during the race. Hanna Mercer was seventh in 11:03.30. Wichita State's Tomas Cotter won the men's steeplechase (8:56.87) while Illinois State's Elise Sigg won the women's race (10:26.87).
PRELIMINARIES
Four of the eight finalists in the men's 110 meter hurdles will be Sycamores led by Greggmar Swift who was the fastest in 13.74. Maurice Lyke was third in 14.09, Adarius Washington fourth at 14.29, and Duane Brown sixth at 14.39. Robert Webb, competing in his seventh event of the day, finished 14th in 16.01.
Indiana State will also have four in the finals of the men's 400 meter hurdles including the top three from the preliminaries. Jonathan Jackson ran the fastest time in the prelims at 52.34 with Max Tuttle second in 52.73 and Arqeil Shaw third at 52.63. Ray Skamay also advanced with the sixth fastest time of 53.60. Duane Brown was 10th in the prelims despite running his collegiate best of 54.84.
Stacia Weatherford broke her own Indiana State record as she won the 100 meter hurdle preliminaries in 13.55 seconds. She will attempt to break that record again in Sunday's finals. Jalencia Lemons was 13th in the preliminaries (14.33) and Jaleesa Holmes 14th (14.46).
Weatherford also qualified for the 400 meter hurdle finals, running the fastest time in the preliminaries of 59.70.
Macey Black advanced to the finals of the women's 400 meters after running the fourth fastest time in the preliminaries of 56.52. Kevin Piraino advanced in the men's 400 meters with the second fastest time in the preliminaries of 48.31 seconds.
Three Sycamores will be in the finals of the women's 100 meters as Katie Wise and Demetra Camble were each timed in 11.68 (second and third respectively) and Kaisha Martin advanced by running her collegiate best of 11.81 to place sixth in the preliminaries.
Indiana State will also have three in the finals of the men's 100 meters with Justin Baxtron running the second fastest time of the preliminaries at 10.60, Shaun Smith the third fastest at 10.61, and Keith Housley the fifth fastest at 10.66. Devin Price was 13th in 11.00.
Leeann Michl ran the fastest time in the preliminaries of the women's 800 meters as she finished in 2:11.05. Shelby Higginbottom finished 11th in 2:16.12 and missed a spot in the finals by two seconds.
Katie Wise competed in her first 200 meter race of the outdoor season and ran the second fastest time in the preliminaries to advance in 24.02 seconds. Demetra Camble also advanced as she ran the eighth fastest time of 24.43 seconds. Jaleesa Holmes finished 19th overall in 26.22.
Indiana State also has the two fastest times heading into the men's 200 meter finals on Sunday as Justin Baxtron ran 21.51 and Keith Housley posted his collegiate best at 21.57. Adarius Washington was 12th in the prelims at 22.19 with Shaun Smith finishing despite a leg injury as he ran 22.86 for 18th.
HEPTATHLON
Juniors Kelly Steffen and Rachael Johnson posted their collegiate best efforts in the heptathlon at the 2013 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships with Steffen finishing fourth overall by scoring 4,936 points and Johnson sixth with 4,672 points. Steffen moved into second place on the Indiana State all-time list as she moved past Chris Singer who scored 4,825 points in 1981. Johnson is now fourth on the all-time list as she moved past Dana Sander who had 4,493 points in 2008.
Steffen opened the final day of the heptathlon by placing second in the long jump with a distance of 19'-0” (5.79m) which was a collegiate best for the junior in the heptathlon long jump. She had a throw of 101'-3” (39.86m) in the javelin which was sixth best in the event and capped her competition by running her collegiate best in the 800 meters of 2:23.93 in finishing third for the event.
Steffen opened the Heptathlon with a season best time of 14.67 in the 100 meter hurdles to finish fifth overall. The junior cleared a season best 5'-3” (1.60m) to tie for third in high jump. Steffen had a throw of 30'-9” (9.37m) in the shot put which was eighth best in the event and closed out the first day of the competition with a collegiate best time of 26.24 in the 200 meters which was sixth overall.
Johnson had her best distance in heptathlon long jump competition as she soared 16'-7¼” (5.06m) to place ninth in the event. She had a throw of 99'-3” (30.25m) which was seventh best in the event and ran 2:28.93 in the 800 meters (sixth in the event).
Johnson opened the Heptathlon with a collegiate best time of 15.45 seconds in the 100 meter hurdles to finish eighth overall and followed that up with a second place finish in the high jump by clearing a collegiate best 5'-6½” (1.69m). She set another collegiate best in the shot put with a distance of 32'-7” (9.93m) which was seventh best in the event and finished off her first day of the competition with her fourth personal best as she ran 26.46 in the 200 meters which was eighth fastest overall.
Tanya Friesen of Wichita State won the MVC title with 5,653 points followed by Paige Knodel of Northern Iowa (5,476) and Nikki Larch-Miller of Wichita State (5,000).
DECATHLON
Robert Webb finished sixth in the decathlon competition while scoring his collegiate best point total of 6,870 points. Webb, who also finished sixth at the 2012 MVC Outdoor Championships in the decathlon, ranks fourth on the Indiana State all-time decathlon list.
Webb opened the final day of the decathlon competition by winning the 110 meter hurdles with his collegiate best time of 14.66 seconds. He came back with his best effort in the decathlon discus with a distance of 109'-2” (33.27m) which placed him seventh in the event. The senior then tied for fourth in the pole vault as he tied his career best by clearing 14'-5¼” (4.40m), placed eighth in the javelin with a distance of 140'-2” (42.73m) and then finished eighth in the 1500 meters (5:01.73).
Webb opened the Decathlon by running his collegiate best of 11.07 in the 100 meters to finish third and followed that up with a fourth place finish in the long jump with a distance of 22'-5¼” (6.84m). The senior had a throw of 34'-10¼” (10.62m) in the shot put (seventh in the event) and tied for third in the high jump by clearing 6'-5” (1.96m) before finishing the day with his second collegiate best of the competition as he ran 50.84 to finish fourth in the 400 meters.
Northern Iowa's Daniel Gooris repeated as the MVC Champion with 7,780 points with Wichita State's Austin Bahner second at 7,599, and Wichita State's Mac Griffith third at 7,109 points.
SUNDAY'S SCHEDULE
Sunday's field events begin at 1 p.m. (ET) with the women's triple jump and women's discus. The men's pole vault will go at 2 p.m. (ET) with the men's triple jump and men's discus at 3 p.m. (ET).
Events on the track will begin at 2 p.m. (ET) with the 4x100 meter relay races followed by the 1500 meter races starting at 2:10 p.m. (ET). Finals in the 100 meter hurdles and 110 meter hurdles will run at 2:40 p.m. (ET) followed by finals in the 400, 100, 800, 400 meter hurdles, and 200 meters. The 5,000 meter races will start at 4:05 p.m. (ET) with the final event of the championships, the 4x400 meter relays, starting at 5:05 p.m. (ET).
