OVC honors pair from Southeast

The Southeast Missouri State track and field program earned a pair of Ohio Valley Conference indoor co-field athlete of the week awards on Tuesday.

Junior Courtney Gapelu received the honor on the women's side with senior Craig Robinson getting the nod on the men's side. They were recognized for their performances over the weekend at the Indiana Relays.

Gapelu threw a career-best 49 feet, 4 1/2 inches to finish fourth in the invitational shot put. The distance is the best in OVC indoor competition since the 2009-10 season.

Gapelu also won the weight throw with a career-best of 55 feet. 

Robinson won the shot put with a mark of 56, 1 3/4. He ranks second in the OVC in the shot put this season and leads the league in the weight throw.

"They're both having very good seasons, like a lot of our athletes are," Southeast coach Eric Crumpecker said. "It's always nice for our athletes to be recognized."

Southeast returns to action Friday, hosting OVC rival SIU Edwardsville in a rare dual meet. The competition at the Student Recreation Center begins at 4 p.m. with the pole vault. Other field events start at 4:30 p.m., with the running events scheduled to begin around 6 p.m.

"It's something I wish we did more of in track and field," Crumpecker said. "Twenty, 30 years ago, dual meets were what track was built on. You just don't see those much anymore. It will be kind of fun to go head to head with them."

Friday's dual is one of two home meets this indoor season for Southeast. The other is the annual Redhawks Invite on Feb. 15. There is no admission charge for either event.

"It's going to be fun. We always have big performances at home and hopefully fans will come out and support us," said Crumpecker, whose men's and women's athletes have already set several school records during the first few weeks of the indoor season. "It's been a fun season so far. Hopefully we can keep it up."