Southeast's Colbert, Gill named best in OVC

The Southeast Missouri State track and field program garnered three of the Ohio Valley Conference's individual awards for the outdoor season.

Southeast then won seven titles at the OVC outdoor meet held Friday and Saturday in Cookeville, Tenn., although the Redhawks fell a bit short of team championships as the men and women both finished second.

Eastern Illinois repeated as men's and women's champion. Southeast's men scored 128 points compared to EIU's 261 in the five-team competition. Southeast's women scored 155.5 points behind EIU's 212 in the nine-team competition.

The start of Saturday's action was delayed for five hours due to inclement weather. Later a tornado warning in the area forced the men's javelin and women's triple jump to be canceled, but by that time EIU already had clinched both team titles.

The OVC announced before the start of the meet Friday that Southeast seniors Brandon Colbert and Chris Gill, along with freshman Jerika Lewis, had been honored in voting by the conference's coaches.

Colbert was named outdoor field athlete of the year, Gill outdoor track athlete of the year and Lewis co-outdoor freshman of the year on the women's side.

"It's a really good honor for all three of them and they're very deserving," Southeast coach Eric Crumpecker said.

Colbert received his third career outdoor field athlete of the year award after also winning in 2009 and 2007.

Colbert continued his strong season by capturing the conference shot put and hammer throw titles over the weekend. He also was second in the discus.

Gill was second in the 400 meters at the conference meet. He also was part of the 1,600 relay unit that finished third.

Lewis placed third in the 400 and fourth in the 200 while anchoring the 1,600 relay team that finished second.

Also winning meet titles for Southeast were junior Tyler Terry, junior Brianna Egbuka, senior Juli Koenegstein and senior Samantha Espiricueta.

Terry, a Central High School graduate, swept the long jump and triple jump after also pulling off that feat at the OVC indoor meet. He is the first OVC athlete to win those four titles in the same year.

Egbuka, also a Central High School graduate, won her first OVC championship by taking the hammer throw with a meet-record distance of 167 feet, 11 inches. She also was second in the shot put and sixth in the discus.

Koenegstein won her third career OVC 3,000 steeplechase title and also placed third in the 5,000.

Espiricueta repeated as javelin champion with a meet-record 151-10 while also finishing third in the hammer throw, third in the discus and fifth in the shot put.

Several other local products fared well, led by junior Rachel Kahle from Jackson. She was third in the long jump, third in the 200, fourth in the 100 and was on the runner-up 1,600 relay.

Jared Siemers, a freshman from Central, was fourth in the hammer throw and seventh in the discus.

Also, sophomore Max Wieser from Saxony Lutheran placed fifth in the 800, freshman Jill Schnurbusch from Notre Dame finished fifth in the pole vault and sophomore Tiffany Mead from Central was on the second-place 1,600 relay.

OVC outdoor meet

Men

Team totals -- 1. Eastern Illinois, 261; 2. Southeast, 128; 3. Eastern Kentucky, 106; 4. Tennessee State, 61; 5. Morehead State 22

Southeast top 8

100 meters -- 6. Jamere Franklin, 11.05

200 -- 3. Myron Pettigrew, 22.0;

400 -- 2. Chris Gill, 47.59; 6. Pettigrew, 49.72

800 -- 5. Max Wieser, 1:55.80

1,500 -- 7. Chris Loseman, 4:00.78; 8. Alex Zisser, 4:00.82

5,000 -- 4. Jason Lumpkin, 15:19.31

10,000 -- 2. Lumpkin, 31:46.03; 7. Daniel Jones, 33:05.15; 8. Tyler Mullen, 33:40.16

3,000 steeplechase -- 3. Loseman, 9:51.52; 4. Joel Krause, 10:04.17; 6. Brandon Funderburk, 10:12.80

1,600 relay -- 3. 3:27.44

Shot put -- 1. Brandon Colbert, 55-11; 2. Craig Robinson, 51-0 1/4; 6. Steve Hendry, 44-2 1/2

Discus -- 2. Colbert, 167-2; 7. Jared Siemers, 132-11; 8. Hendry, 127-1

Hammer throw -- 1. Colbert, 194-6; 3. Robinson, 154-10; 4. Siemers, 154-1

Long jump -- 1. Tyler Terry, 23-11 3/4; 3. Ryan Criglar, 23-2; 8. Chris Johnson, 21-11 1/2

Triple jump -- 1. Terry, 46-8; 5. Johnson, 44-10 3/4; 8. Evan Miller, 40-11 3/4

High jump -- 8. Ross Miller, 6-0

Pole vault -- 3. Jeff Wilfong, 15-0

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Women

Team totals -- 1. Eastern Illinois, 212; 2. Southeast, 155.5; 3. Eastern Kentucky, 131; 4. Jacksonville State, 73.5; 5. Tennessee Tech, 67; 6. Austin Peay, 66.5; 7. Tennessee State, 42.5; 8. Murray State, 30; 9. Morehead State 1

Southeast top 8

100 meters -- 4. Rachel Kahle, 12.19

200 -- 3. Kahle, 25.08; 4. Jerika Lewis, 25.33

400 -- 3. Lewis, 55.97

5,000 -- 3. Juli Koenegstein, 17:53.18

10,000 -- 4. Szandra Pal, 39:28.11

3,000 steeplechase -- 1. Koenegstein, 10:53.69; 6. Monica Noble, 11:55.20

400 hurdles -- 7. Travon Beard, 1:10.87

400 relay -- 6. 48.19

1,600 relay -- 2. 3:51.85

Shot put -- 2. Brianna Egbuka, 45-7 3/4; 3. Ashley Brewer, 44-7; 5. Samantha Espiricueta, 41-4 1/2

Discus -- 2. Brewer, 163-3; 3. Espiricueta, 149-2; 6. Egbuka, 138-11

Hammer throw -- 1. Egbuka, 167-11; 2. Brewer, 152-9; 3. Espiricueta, 148-5

Javelin -- 1. Espiricueta, 151-10; 3. Chloe Tubbs, 118-6; 7. Brewer, 107-1

Long jump -- 3. Kahle, 18-10 3/4

High jump -- 4. (tie) Cara Harbstreet, 5-2 1/4

Pole vault -- 3. Audrey Harwood, 11-5 1/4; 5. Jill Schnurbusch, 11-5 1/4