OTAHKIANS AGAIN RULE OVC TRACK

Ohio Valley Conference women's track and field keeps getting better and better -- and Southeast Missouri State University's Otahkians are continuing that trend as well.

The Otahkians won their second consecutive OVC indoor championship over the weekend during competition held at Middle Tennessee State.

And Southeast's men, while not winning the OVC title, still had a strong performance as the Indians finished third.

"It was a great day for us," said Southeast coach Joey Haines, who was named the OVC women's coach of the year for indoor track. "We knew our women would have a battle with Eastern Kentucky and they really came through.

"Our guys also did super. We were picked probably fifth going in and to finish third makes you really feel good. The guys had a lot of adversity this year

The Otahkians scored 126.5 points to defend their OVC indoor title. Eastern Kentucky was second (104.5) while host Middle Tennessee placed third (95) among the 10 teams.

In the men's division, which featured seven teams, Eastern Kentucky prevailed with 166 points, followed by Middle Tennessee (122.5), Southeast (79.5) and Tennessee State (77).

Southeast's women came away with five championships, including two by freshman as Natalie Talley won the 55-meters and Heather Keltner captured the 400.

Keltner was also second in the 200 while Talley was fourth in the 200.

Sophomore Tammy Wenkel won the 800, senior Heather Denihan captured the long jump and Southeast's fifth win came in the mile relay with the group of Keltner, senior Yvonne Hente, Wenkel and sophomore Kim Stewart.

Hente was third in both the 200 and 400; junior Janelle Quigley placed second in the mile and third in the 800; sophomore Leslie McNamara was third in the 5,000 and fourth in the 3,000; Denihan placed fourth in the high jump; freshman Latricia Purham was second in the shot put; and senior Jennifer Phillips placed fifth in the shot put.

The Otahkians had several other top-eight performances that netted points and aided the team victory.

"We have a few good seniors, but we've got a very good group of young girls," said Haines.

Southeast's men had just one individual victory, that coming by former Cape Central High standout Jim Fox in the pole vault. The transfer from Tennessee is a freshman.

Also in the pole vault, freshman Jaret Wille was third and former Cape Central star Chris Moore, a junior, fifth.

Junior Bryan Alfultis was second in the shot put while sophomore Jim Rhea was third.

Senior Jon Riley finished second in two events, the long jump and triple jump.

Sophomore Derrick Brown was fifth in both the 55 and 200 and, like for the women, several other athletes helped out with top-eight performances.

"Our guys are still pretty young, except for Jon Riley and a couple of others," Haines said. "So the future looks good for both teams."

As for Southeast's immediate future, Haines is hoping a few athletes can qualify for the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships that will be held March 13-14 in Indianapolis. Saturday's meet at Iowa State will be the final chance to qualify.

Three Southeast athletes have already met the provisional NCAA qualifying standard, but Haines won't know for sure until Sunday if they will get in.

The three are Wenkel in the 800, Denihan in the long jump and Riley in the triple jump.

"Jon I think has got a real good chance (of qualifying)," said Haines. "Tammy has got to run a little bit faster, but she should be able to do that at Iowa State."

And as for Haines receiving another coach of the year honor -- he's had numerous ones during his stellar Southeast career -- he said, "That's mainly a reflection of the job the girls did and also the hard work my assistant coaches did. It's a nice honor for the entire program."