Track teams have strong showing in first meet

Tony Ammann
Sports Editor

The SIUE men's and women's track teams put away running shoes and laced up spikes Friday for the first outdoor meet of the season.

The Cougars traveled to St. Louis for the Washington University Mini Meet in the first of six outdoor events on the 2000 schedule.

Washington University played a rude host, winning both the men's and women's events. The Bears racked up 181.5 points on the men's side and 235 points on the women's side.

SIUE head coach Darryl Frerker is impressed with the Washington program, which he thinks has improved in the last four years.

"They have a lot of money in their program," Frerker said. "They are to the point where I'd like to be in the next couple of years ourselves. We're moving in that direction. We're getting better. We're getting bigger."

The Lady Cougars came within just 9.5 points of the usually dominating Bears, compiling a total of 225.5 points and a second-place finish out of six teams.

SIUE sophomore Amanda Bozue and senior Lisa Ribes finished second and third respectively in the 1,500-meter event. Washington's Susan Chou won the event with a time of 4:55.49, just four seconds faster than Bozue.

"I really think that with Amanda being in great shape that she could have been a little closer to (Chou) in this meet," Frerker said. "(Chou) is really tough."

The Lady Cougars finished first in the 4 x 100- and 4 x 400-meter events. The 4 x 100-meter event consisted of Desiree Barcomb, Chenoa Glenn, Alexis Schweinberg and Tamekia Howard. The foursome crossed the finish line in a time of :49.54.

Howard, Glenn and Schweinberg teamed with Ann Miklovic in the 4 x 400-meter event and finished with a time of 4:05.43. Miklovic was also a winner in the 800 with a time of 2:24.77.

Howard was also a multiple-event winner as the first-place finisher in the 400. She crossed the finish line in a time of :59.95. Glenn won the 400-meter hurdles in a time of :64.77 with Schweinberg finishing right behind her in second place.

All-American Mekelle Beck won the discus and the javelin throws for the Lady Cougars. Frerker anticipates Beck qualifying for the National Collegiate Athletic Association National meet this season.

"She's been very strong since her freshman year," Frerker said. "It was a really strong first outdoor meet for her."

Beck, a senior from Arenzville, had a distance of 41.11 meters in the discus event. Her mark of 40.41 meters in the javelin was almost seven meters better than the second-place finisher, teammate Kelly Saunders.

Junior Crystal Anderson was the other first-place finisher for the Lady Cougars. She won the pole vault with a toss of 2.36 meters.

On the men's side, the Cougars finished third behind Washington and Greenville College with a total of 118 points.

Sophomore Eli Potter made a strong showing in his first outdoor meet of the season. Potter was the winner of the hammer throw with a toss of 42.8 meters. He also finished second in the shot put, second in the discus throw and sixth in the javelin throw.

"He's our lone thrower right now," Frerker said. "He's coming on strong and had a great indoor season. He's working very hard, is dedicated, and I think he'll turn a lot of heads this season."

SIUE had six runners participate in the 800-meter event. Sophomore Jason Olszowka won with a time of 1:56.84 while teammate Ben Hilby finished second.

Frerker entered six runners because he is unsure whether many of his runners are ready for the 400-meter level or 1,500-meter level.

"We need to get a start with all these guys and know where we go from here," Frerker said. "By the time we get to the conference meet, we'll take our best four."

Sophomore George Murphy won two events for the Cougars, finishing first in the pole vault and javelin throw. Murphy had a mark of 3.88 meters in the pole vault and had a toss of 49.5 meters in the javelin.

Junior Joshua Benton was also a winner for SIUE. Benton was the only participant to break the 2-meter level with a mark of 2.03 meters.

SIUE will continue the outdoor season Saturday with the Cougar Classic at SIUE's Ralph Korte Stadium.