SIU REIGNS AT RELAYS; SE RUNNER-UP IN ALL SPORT

Heading into Saturday's ALL SPORT Relays competitions, Southeast coach Joey Haines said he would like to see the women take first and the men third.

Haines exited the Abe Stuber Track and Field Complex with a bittersweet perspective as the men overachieved, climbing three spots from Friday to take second, whereas the women took second place despite winning seven of 11 relay events.

The men finished with 175 points, while the women ended up eight points out of the lead with 177. Southern Illinois took the men's (193 points), women's (185) and combined titles (378).

The men captured second place in dramatic fashion in the 4 X 400, the final race of the day. The Indians entered the race tied with Marquette for second.

But the 4 x 400 team of Jarod Rybacki, Tyson Brown, Glen Haley and Jason Campbell edged Southern Illinois for first place securing a second-place finish.

Campbell passed SIU's anchor runner in the final 50 meters.

"It was a very close race," Haines said. "The men ran really well. We were really proud of them ... We had a lot of really good performances.

"With the women, it was kind of a heartbreaking loss. We had a big disappointment in the 100. Our No. 2 girl (Natalie Talley) just didn't perform. She should have had an easy second place, but she got last. I don't know what happened there. Other than that and the mile relay, we did what we thought we would."

An intense, but brief thunderstorm interrupted competition for about 45 minutes and indirectly affected the overall score, Haines said.

Because of the soggy conditions, some of the teams pulled their relay squads or left all together. With fewer teams competing in the relays, more emphasis was placed on the individual scores.

That hurt the relay-oriented Otahkians, who were not able to gain enough ground with so few teams competing.

But the emphasis on the non-relay events helped the Southeast men.

Southeast's Bryan Alfultis took first in the discus (165'03.5) and the javelin (172'11.00).

"The javelin I only won because the guy from Carbondale didn't throw," said a modest Alfultis. "I only throw the javelin a couple times a year. The discus I did well in for the conditions. It was a lot better than I have been throwing over the last couple of weeks. I had been throwing in the 150s.

"A lot of people were having trouble (with the wetness) but it didn't affect me too much."

Derrick Brown took first in the 100-meter dash with a time of :10.97. Actually, two Florissant Valley runners finished ahead of Brown, but they were running for exhibition purposes and their scores were not reflected in the team standings.

Haley finished first in the 110 hurdles at :14.36.

In all, the Southeast men finished in third place or above in every event they participated in Saturday except the triple jump.

Southeast's Jarett Willi took second in the pole vault with a personal-best of 15-6.

The Otahkians -- who began the day in third place, 31 points out of first -- may not have captured first place as hoped by Haines, but several Southeast women performed well.

One such Otahk was junior Lutricia Purham, whose 47'07.25 shot put was good for first. Purham's shot made up for her disappointing triple-foul performance in the discus a day earlier.

"I know the shot put is my best event so the discus (performance) didn't put any pressure on the shot put at all," said Purham, who described her shot put performance as mediocre.

Jean Leaman, a former gymnast at Southeast, broke an Abe Stuber Complex record in the pole vault at 11-0. This is just the second year the track has hosted a women's pole vault competition.

Otahkian Shauna Birge took first in the 100 at :12.21 and also helped the sprint medley relay team and the 4 X 100 relay team to first-place finishes.

The medley team -- comprised of Birge, Natalie Talley, Heather Keltner and Tammy Wenkel -- finished the race in 3:59.22.

The 4 X 100 team of Keltner, Birge, Kim Stewart and Talley posted a time of :46.64.

FINAL RESULTS

Team scores after the final day of 18th annual ALL SPORT Relays.

Men

1. Southern Illinois 193

2. Southeast Missouri 175

3. Marquette 166

4. Murray State 137

5. Arkansas State 118

6. Tennessee Martin 41

7. Western Kentucky 12

8. Belmont 2

Women

1. Southern Illinois 185

2. Southeast Missouri 177

3. Marquette 173

4. Tennessee Martin 120

5. Arkansas State 64

6. Murray State 61

7. Austin Peay 52

8. Western Kentucky 12

Combined

1. Southern Illinois 378

2. Southeast Missouri 352

3. Marquette 339

4. Murray State 202

5. Arkansas State 182

6. Tennessee Martin 161

7. Western Kentucky 24