ALL OTAHKIANS AT ALL SPORT RELAYS; SOUTHEAST WOMEN WIN CHAMPIONSHIP

Southeast's 4x400 anchor Yvonne Hente received the baton from teammate Tammy Wenkel during Saturday's ALL SPORT Relays. Southeast won the race and the Otahkians went on to win the women's competition.

Southeast Missouri State University's track program fell just short of its overall goal but still had a successful weekend during the ALL SPORT Relays that concluded Saturday afternoon.

The Southeast women won the 16th annual event held at the Abe Stuber Track and Field Complex. Southeast's men placed fifth, which added up to an overall second-place finish in the combined competition.

"We felt like our women had a really good chance to win it and we were hoping our men could do good enough for us to win the overall trophy," said Southeast coach Joey Haines, who also served as meet director. "Our women did really well and it wasn't easy. Marquette has a good team.

"Overall, we came close. We could have won. The pole vault getting canceled hurt us. We might have won with that. But we were the ones that canceled it. It was just too shaky to vault."

Heavy rain -- which plagued the meet all weekend -- forced the men's pole vault to be canceled Saturday because the runway was just too slick. Southeast would have been favored to take several of the top few spots in that event.

As it was, Southeast's women scored 160 points to prevail in the 12-team field. Marquette was a strong second with 151 points. Rounding out the top five were Tennessee-Chattanooga (108), Illinois State (79) and Western Kentucky (73).

Southern Illinois scored 121 points to capture the title in the 11-team men's field. Marquette was second with 117, followed by Illinois State (96), Tennessee-Chattanooga (90) and Southeast (85).

By virtue of the strong performances in both divisions, Marquette claimed the combined championship with 268 points. Southeast was second (245) while Tennessee-Chattanooga claimed third (198).

"Despite the weather (it rained for all but a short portion of the two-day event), it was a really good meet," Haines said. "That's a tribute to the athletes and the coaches."

Among the many Southeast women having good meets was senior standout Shannon O'Dell, who was probably the unofficial MVP for the Otahkians.

O'Dell competed in six events and had a hand in four first-place performances. She won the 100-meter hurdles and ran on the victorious 4x200 relay team on Friday, then ran on the victorious sprint medley and 4x400 relay teams on Saturday.

"Shannon really had an outstanding meet," said Haines. "She's just having a super senior season."

Other members of Saturday's winning relay teams were Shauna Birge, Yvonne Hente and Tammy Wenkel in the sprint medley and Kim Stewart, Wenkel and Hente in the 4x400.

Hente also ran on Friday's winning 4x200 team as she joined O'Dell in having a hand in all three victorious Otahkian relay teams.

The Otahkians' 4x100 relay squad of O'Dell, Hente, Stewart and Birge placed second Saturday while others finishing second were Denise Ford in the javelin, Heather Denihan in the long jump, Jessie Donahoe in the high jump and Sherry Lange in the 1,500.

Placing third for the Otahkians Saturday were Danielle Roussell in the javelin and Heather Fisher in the high jump.

On the men's side Saturday, Randy Johnson gave Southeast its second winning performance of the weekend when he won the javelin with a season-best throw of 212 feet 6 inches.

Johnson, the school and Ohio Valley Conference record-holder in the event, came away pleased by his performance.

"I felt good about what I did," he said. "That's good for this early in the season. It's a start and now I have to build on it."

Like most of the competitors, Johnson tried not to let the bad weather bother him.

"It was hard, but I tried not to let it affect me," he said, then added with a laugh, "It's hard not to think about it when your feet are all wet."

The Indians' 4x100 relay team of Neil Birchler, DeWayne Johnson, Ryan Steck and Derrick Brown finished second Saturday. Matt Gaylor was second in the discus while teammate Bryan Alfultis placed third.