Redhawks have track athletes honored

Southeast Missouri State University's track and field program will return to action this weekend boasting three Ohio Valley Conference athletes of the week.

Earlier this week, after their performances at last weekend's SIU Invitational, sophomore Miles Smith (male track athlete of the week), junior Andrew Lambert (male field athlete of the week) and freshman Kathy Coleman (female track athlete of the week) were all honored by the OVC.

Smith won the 400-meters at SIU with a time of 48.03 seconds, which is just off his season-best time of 47.94 that ranks first on the OVC list for this year.

Lambert took second in the long jump (22-9 3/4) at SIU, and he placed third in the high jump (6-4).

Coleman continued her dazzling rookie season by winning the long jump (19-4 1/4) at SIU, while placing third in the triple jump (39-3 3/4), fourth in the 55-meters (7.12 seconds) and fourth in the 55-meter hurdles (8.45). She has already broken the school record in the triple jump and ranks first on the OVC season list in the triple and long jumps.

Southeast competes today and Saturday at the Indiana Invitational in Bloomington, Ind.

Gymnastics at home

Southeast's gymnastics team will try to improve to 3-0 in dual matches Saturday when the Redhawks host Illinois-Chicago in a 1 p.m. start at Houck Field House.

The Redhawks have won their first two duals of the season, including last Saturday's home opener when they beat Centenary 190.45 to 189.05 in front of about 425 fans.

Once again, Southeast gymnasts will stick around following the meet to mingle with fans and sign autographs. Also after the competition, there will be a youth gymnastics meet between various clubs in the region.

"It should be a great day of gymnastics and hopefully we'll have another good crowd," Southeast coach Tom Farden said.

No action on Jenkins

It appears that there will be no action taken against Tennessee Tech basketball player Willie Jenkins, who was alleged to have made an obscene gesture to a group of Southeast fans at the Show Me Center last Thursday following the Eagles' 82-81 overtime victory.

OVC spokesperson Kim Melcher said the league office received conflicting reports on what happened and could not determine that the obscene gesture did take place, after which the conference turned the matter over to Tennessee Tech to handle in-house.

Tennessee Tech spokesperson Rob Schabert said the end of the game film showed Jenkins taking off his uniform top, but it did not reveal the alleged obscene gesture. School officials also have received conflicting reports on what transpired.

"I can't say for sure that nothing will happen, but as this point I haven't gotten any further word from our administration that they could determine what was alleged actually took place," Schabert said.

--From staff reports