Southeast track and field teams stumble in defense of OVC crowns

The Southeast Missouri State men's and women's track and field teams were on pace to defend their Ohio Valley Conference outdoor championship titles after the first day of competition at Austin Peay in Clarksville, Tennessee, on Friday.

Both Redhawks squads were in first place following Day 1 of the competition but were overtaken in the standings on Saturday.

The men's squad finished second to Eastern Illinois. The Panthers finished with 233.5 points while the Redhawks had 216.

The women's team fell to fourth with 105.5 points and Tennessee State won with 128.5 points.

Jackson graduate Blake Smith won the 100-meter dash with a career-best time of 10.25 seconds. He was just one-hundredth of a second away from breaking the school record in the event.

Senior Chris Navarro won the decathlon with 5,116 points and the 110-meter hurdles in 14.57 seconds. In the decathlon competition he was first in the 110 hurdles in 14.80 seconds and third in the discus (94 feet, 4 inches) and pole vault (14-1 1/4).

Shon Kyle, the OVC's male co-field athlete of the year, won the shot put title for the second year in a row with a throw of 50-11 and finished third in the hammer throw with a distance of 170-11.

Senior Reggie Miller's jump of 50-11 in the triple jump was good for first place while Central graduate and sophomore Chris Martin placed third in the event.

Junior Kayla Gutierrez secured the women's shot put title with a distance of 48-8 1/4 and finished second in the hammer throw (182-6).

Sarah Hall, the OVC's female co-field athlete of the year, finished second in the shot put and fifth in the hammer throw.

Central graduate Mary Dohogne placed second in the 3,000 steeplechase.

Senior Mike Peters' time of 52.74 seconds gave him a second-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles and he took third in the 110 hurdles.

Smith, Martin, senior Blake Carter and freshman Jarred Pasley combined for a second-place finish in 41.10 seconds in the men's 4x100-meter relay. Pasley and fellow freshman Brandon Chunn finished 3-4 in the 400 while senior Tyler Holmes was third in the 800.

Sophomore Marc Maton was fifth in the 1,500 while junior Alyssa Rebecca was sixth in the event on the women's side. Cheyenne Tunti took fifth in the 400.

Junior Taylor Coffelt placed second in the heptathlon with 4.849 points -- winning the javelin, finishing second in the 800 and third in the long jump -- while junior Macy Ritter was fifth with 4, 459 points. Coffelt also took fourth place in the individual javelin.

Southeast has multiple student-athletes who qualified and will compete at the NCAA West Preliminary Round at the University of Texas in Austin May 28-30.