Southeast Missouri State track team qualifies six athletes for NCAA West Regional

~ The Southeast track and field members ultimately have their sights on the national meet

The Southeast Missouri State track and field program put together another strong season.

Now six Southeast athletes will have the opportunity to continue their campaigns as they compete Thursday through Saturday at the NCAA West Regional on the University of Texas campus in Austin.

The top 48 in every individual event from each of the nation's two regions qualified, and the top 12 finishers from each regional will earn a trip to next month's national meet in Eugene, Ore.

"It's a goal everybody starts off with at the beginning of the year, to make it to the first round of national qualifying," Southeast coach Eric Crumpecker said about the regional. "Just getting there is a big accomplishment. You're talking about, between the two regions, being in the top 100 in the country at what you do.

"Everybody qualifies the same way when you make it this far. You're not getting in by competing against the OVC. You're getting it done against the big boys in the country, the power programs."

Southeast qualified four men and two women in a total of seven events for this week's meet.

"Everyone that qualified had a tremendous year, and this is a good way for them to finish the year facing national level competition. It's a good reward for them," Crumpecker said. "Hopefully we can get some athletes through to nationals, which would be a tremendous accomplishment. I think several have a shot."

Senior Craig Robinson will make his third straight regional appearance. He ranks 30th in the shot put with a top distance of 57 feet, 9 1/2 inches.

Sophomore Kevin Farley (shot put), sophomore Reggie Miller Jr. (high jump, triple jump ) and sophomore Blake Carter (long jump) all will be in their second straight regional meet.

Farley, the Ohio Valley Conference outdoor male field co-athlete of the year who was voted the top male athlete at the OVC outdoor meet, has the region's 11th-best shot put with a school-record 60-3 1/4.

Miller is ranked 15th in the region in the high jump with a height of 7-1 that ranks second all-time at Southeast. He owns the school's indoor high jump record.

Miller ranks 33rd in the triple jump (50-2 1/2).

Carter is ranked 15th (25-0 3/4). He was Southeast's lone postseason qualifier during the indoor season, when he qualified for the national meet with a school-record 25-6 and wound up earning second-team All-American honors.

Southeast's two female entrants are both first-time regional qualifiers.

Senior Jill Schnurbusch, a Notre Dame Regional High School graduate, is ranked 37th in the pole vault (12-11 1/2). She is the school record-holder outdoors and indoors.

Junior Courtney Gapelu, the school-record holder in the shot put, ranks 39th in that event (51-3).

"Kevin, Reggie and Blake all have excellent shots at making it to nationals if you look at the seeding. Craig, Courtney and Jill have all shown the ability to hit the marks that could get them through as well," Crumpecker said. "We have several that should do well. It wouldn't surprise me if we got a few through if they perform well."