Southeast men's team overcomes brutal conditions to capture team title

~ The Redhawks won their own Gatorade Classic.

At least the sun was shining.

That was about the only positive thing Southeast Missouri State track coach Joey Haines could say about the weather conditions Saturday following the 26th annual Gatorade Classic track and field meet at the Abe Stuber complex.

"The conditions couldn't have been worse unless it was raining," Haines said. "I don't know what the temperature got down to but I'm sure the wind chill was in the 30s the whole day.

"It was a tribute to our kids that they ran very well."

Southeast's men ran well enough to post a 5-0 record in the meet, which was scored as a series of dual meets for the first time. The Redhawks dominated the sprints -- winning both relays as well as the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes. They also had the men's meet's lone double individual winner in Brandon Colbert, who topped the shot put and the discus, and added wins in the long jump and triple jump.

It all added up to a perfect record with an 88-78 win against runner-up Illinois State (4-1) being the closest margin.

"Track is a funny sport when it comes to scoring," Haines said. "It's one of the few sports where the score might not be indicative of the kind of day you had. Every race, every event is a championship within itself. If everyone takes care of their business, the team scores come your way."

The Southeast men won 10 events en route to a perfect dual day.

Haines said that because of the weather, the times and distances recorded Saturday would not serve as a good gauge on how the athletes are progressing.

"No one was going to have their best performances," he said. "This was not so much about the stop watch and tape measure. We told them to just compete and try to beat everyone you can. It was gratifying that the athletes stepped up and did so well."Leading the charge was Colbert, who won the shot put with a throw of 54 feet, 4 1/2 inches. He was the only thrower to crack 50 feet. Colbert won the discus with a mark of 161-7, which was 13 feet better than the second-best toss.

Also in the field, John Berry won the long jump with a mark of 23-7 1/2 and Bilal Hameed captured the triple jump at 47-8.

Southeast's sprint wins came from Chris Williams in the 100 at 10.98; David Reid in the 200 at 21.87; and Miles Smith in the 400 at 47.61. Smith, an all-American who was running individually in the outdoors competition for the first time since an indoor-season-ending injury on Jan. 28, was the only runner in the field to crack 50 seconds.

Southeast's sprinting depth showed with four runners in the top seven of the 100, five in the top seven of the 200 and two in the top three of the 400.

Reid, who was third in the 100, teamed with Williams, Seth Schuster and Chris Poindexter to capture the 400 relay; and Reid, Williams and Poindexter teamed with Smith to win the 1,600 relay.

Jamie Lee rounded out Southeast's first-place finishers with a mark of 4:04.52.

Haines said the team had several top distance runners out with injury.