Southeast men in lead position entering final day of OVC meet

Southeast Missouri State track and field coach Joey Haines knows the work is far from done for his men's team.

But Haines came away feeling plenty good about things following Friday's opening day of the Ohio Valley Conference outdoor meet at Southeast's Abe Stuber Complex.

Southeast's men, who Haines expected to be in a tight battle with defending champion Eastern Illinois and OVC indoor champ Eastern Kentucky, won four of the six finals contested Friday.

Along with numerous other point producers, the Redhawks more than doubled the Panthers with 82 1/2 points to 41 for Eastern Illinois.

But with 13 finals on tap today — field events begin at 11 a.m. and running events at noon — Haines still anticipates a duel to the wire for the championship in the six-team men's division.

"There were some things we could have done better, but overall we did very well," said Haines, who is retiring this year after 26 seasons as Southeast's coach and will be honored during today's 10:50 a.m. opening ceremonies. "So did Eastern Illinois. It should go right down to the wire."

Eastern Kentucky — fifth with 15 1/2 points — likely won't contend for the title since standout distance runner Jacob Korir did not make the trip to Cape Girardeau for undisclosed reasons.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Southeast freshman high jumper Cara Harbstreet kept her eyes on the bar during Friday's opening day of the OVC outdoor track and field championships at the Abe Stuber Track and Field Complex.

Korir holds the nation's fastest time in the 5,000 meters and has the second-fastest time in the 10,000. He likely would have blown away the field in both events.

Korir's absence opened the door for Southeast junior Brandon Karcher, the defending 10,000 champion. Korir redshirted last year.

Karcher won that event — the final one on Friday's schedule — in dominant fashion to cap the Redhawks' strong showing. He also should be a factor in today's 5,000.

"It's definitely nice. It's been kind of a rough season for me so far," said Karcher, last year's OVC male outdoor track athlete of the year. "It's good to have a good race at the right time."

Southeast's Andy Glass grimaced while heaving the shot put. Glass won the event.

Karcher said he found out Thursday night that Korir would not compete in the OVC meet.

"It's good to have somebody in the field like that, but he's so good. ... He's shooting for a national championship," said Karcher, who added that he heard Korir skipped the conference meet to compete in a prestigious event in California.

"When he's in the race, you know you can't win. It brought up my morale. It's like a second wind."

Karcher seemed to be just as pleased by the 10,000 performance of freshman walk-on Jason Lumpkin, who got Southeast six points by finishing third.

"That was big," Karcher said.

Added Haines: "We knew Brandon was going to be tough. Our freshman came up big."

Another top athlete who is not competing this weekend left the door open for a local product to capture his first OVC title.

Southeast sophomore Brandon Colbert, the OVC male indoor field athlete of the year who also captured that honor outdoors as a freshman last season, would have been an overwhelming favorite to win the shot put and discus as he has the league's top marks.

Colbert is out with an injury, but that didn't hurt the Redhawks from a team standpoint in Friday's shot put as they captured the top four places, which is the maximum allowed for points to be scored by one squad.

Junior Andy Glass, a Jackson High School graduate, took advantage of Colbert's absence by winning the shot put with a distance of 49 feet, 8 1/2 inches. By comparison, Colbert has thrown well over 58 feet.

"Brandon is so far ahead of everybody [in the OVC]. He's one of the better throwers in the nation," Glass said. "It's good to have him on our team, but all the other guys stepped up."

Glass, who was second in the OVC indoor shot put behind Colbert, acknowledged that he was unlikely to win an OVC championship with Colbert around.

"It's a shame [Colbert got hurt], but that's what we have a team for," Glass said. "To sweep the top four without our best thrower ... we push each other and fight it out in practice."

Josh Uchtman, Andy Croxford and Richard Martin went 2-3-4 in the shot put.

"Our shot put guys really came through," said Haines, who added that it will be more difficult for the Redhawks to overcome Colbert's absence in today's discus.

Stricklin wins javelin

Southeast's other champions Friday were senior Ben Stricklin in the javelin and senior John Berry in the long jump.

Stricklin, a member of Southeast's cheerleading squad who joined the track program last year for the first time after having never thrown the javelin, was well off his season best, but still won easily with 192-8.

"I'm pretty excited," said Stricklin of his first OVC title. "I didn't throw as well as I wanted, but I've got another month until regionals."

Berry had a career-best 25-5 1/2 that is ninth nationally and places him second on Southeast's all-time list.

Southeast had three other athletes place in the long jump, including Central High School products Tyler Terry and Anthony Harris. Terry, a freshman, was third and Harris sixth.

Southeast All-American Miles Smith eased into today's finals in both the 400 and 200. He had the fastest time in the 400 preliminaries (47.85 seconds) and second-fastest time in the 200 preliminaries (21.73).

Smith, ranked sixth nationally in the 400, also will compete in two relays today, the 400 and 1,600.

Southeast is fifth in the 10-team women's field with 29 points. Defending champion Eastern Illinois leads a tightly bunched pack with 37 1/2 points.

Southeast's women won no titles Friday, but received a second place from Samantha Espiricueta in the javelin. Lindsay Hearne was third.

Several local products placed for Southeast on the women's side.

Brianna Egbuka, a freshman from Central, was fourth in the shot put. Jackson graduate Rebecca Martin was fourth in the javelin, and Central product Linnea Woldtvedt placed sixth in the 3,000 steeplechase.

Rachel Kahle, a freshman from Jackson, qualified for the finals in the 100 and 200.