ARTEME PLACES 7TH IN NATIONAL MEET

Southeast Missouri State University track and field coach Joey Haines figures the way Amy Arteme has progressed should be an incentive to all runners who weren't very heavily recruited.

Arteme, a Kelly High School product, finished seventh in the 5,000-meter run Saturday night during the USA Track & Field Junior Nationals in Denton, Texas.

Arteme, who will be entering her sophomore year at Southeast, qualified for the prestigious meet for athletes 19 years old and younger during her successful freshman season at Southeast.

"It's quite an accomplishment for Amy," said Haines. "She came from a small school and a lot of people told her she wasn't good enough to run at Southeast. But through a lot of hard work, she's proved those people wrong."

"She came over here last summer, got in the weight room, got a lot stronger and got a lot of confidence. She just really blossomed."

Running in the Texas heat and humidity, Arteme turned in a time of 18 minutes 24.42 seconds. The winner, Marni Kruppa, had a time of 17:15.48.

"That's probably the second-best time Amy has run," Haines said. "Running the 5,000 in Texas in the summer is pretty tough, with the heat and humidity. I wasn't really expecting a very good time from anybody but I was real happy with what Amy did."

Arteme had an impressive freshman season at Southeast, winning the 10,000-meters at the All Sport Invitational and faring well during Ohio Valley Conference competition.

"Amy had a very good year for a freshman and she's only going to get better," said Haines. "She definitely has a bright future for us the next few years."

The USA Track & Field Junior Nationals is a meet that features some of the top college freshman and high school seniors in the nation.