Southeast athletes miss automatic national bid

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Southeast Missouri State University's track and field program had several more solid performances Saturday but came away with no automatic national qualifiers as the NCAA Mideast Regional concluded.

The top five finishers in each event from the four regionals across the nation qualify for the NCAA Championships June 11 to 14 in Sacramento, Calif. Six more at-large qualifiers in each event will come from the top marks turned in nationally this season.

Southeast's highest finish Saturday was a seventh place by the women's 1,600-meter relay team of Laura VanHoevelaak, Hannah Stuckenschneider, Brooke Woodruff and LaQuita Andrews. The group clocked 3:43.1

Stuckenschneider was eighth in the 400 (55.17) after she had the sixth-fastest qualifying time (54.48) in Friday's preliminaries.

Also for Southeast's women Saturday, Heather Jenkins was 12th in the discus (146-7), and Courtney Haman failed to place in the high jump.

On the men's side, Jay Heddell finished eighth in the shot put (56-11 1/2); Chad Sierman placed 17th in the 3,000 steeplechase (9:16.11); Brandon Myer was 23rd in the shot put (52-9 1/4); and Shelton Scott was 23rd in the triple jump (48-4 1/4).

Friday's top Southeast finishers in finals were Myer (seventh, discus); Haman (ninth, javelin); and Jenkins (11th, shot put). In addition, VanHoevelaak narrowly missed making it out of the preliminaries in the 400 hurdles despite the second-best time in school history.

"We had some very good performances in what was the toughest regional in the country," Southeast coach Joey Haines said. "Basically, all of our people did better than where they were ranked going in, and that's the thing we're excited about."

Scott, who was hampered by a heel injury suffered during a recent automobile accident and fouled on all three of his attempts in Friday's long jump, is Southeast's lone athlete with a shot at making the NCAA Championships as an at-large qualifier.

Scott is virtually assured of qualifying in the long jump after he entered the regional with the nation's 14th-best performance. And he had 19th-best triple jump, meaning he could also qualify in that event.