SOUTHEAST TRACK TEAMS HAVE RARE HOME MEET

Area track and field fans will get a rare opportunity to see Southeast Missouri State University men's and women's teams in a home meet tonight.

Southeast will host a triangular meet at the Student Recreation Center, with field events beginning at 5:30 p.m. and running events starting at 7 p.m. Also competing will be Murray State and Tennessee-Martin.

"Our athletes really look forward to competing before our home fans," said Southeast coach Joey Haines. "Our teams should be favored, but the Tennessee-Martin women will push our women and Murray State will be a challenge for our men."

Southeast opened the 1999 portion of its indoor season last week at the Saluki Booster Invitational at Southern Illinois-Carbondale, with the women finishing fourth out of nine teams and the men placing fifth out of nine teams.

Tennessee-Martin's women were eighth at SIU while Murray State was ninth. On the men's side, Murray State placed seventh and Tennessee-Martin was eighth.

Some of the top individuals competing for the Southeast women tonight will include Janelle Quigley, the OVC cross country champion who won the 3,000 at SIU last week; Heather Keltner, the 200 and 400 champion at the Saluki meet; and Lutricia Purham, who won the shot put at Carbondale.

The Southeast men will be led by Bryan Alfultis, who won the shot put at the SIU meet. He holds the Student Recreation Center record of 54 feet 5 inches.

"We expect a lot of individuals, including some of our talented recruits, to contribute in this meet," Haines said. "We will use the new NCAA recommended scoring system where only two people from a school can score in any one event. It should make the meet closer and more exciting.

"I hope we have a good crowd to enjoy a good collegiate track meet."