Cougar Logo
  Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Track and Field 		Women's SIUE Track and Field
Men's SIUE Track and Field
SIUE Athletics
Cougar Ruler

April 11, 2005

Bannister, Weber, Weeden Post NCAA Marks
        The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville men's track and field program continues to excel.
        Three more performances from this past weekend's Big Blue Classic at Eastern Illinois resulted in Cougars being added to the provisional qualifying list for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship, held next month in Abilene, Texas.
        Anthony Weber (Marengo) broke the school record in the pole vault with a leap of 16 feet, 0.75 inches (4.90 meters).
        "Anthony has vaulted well all year long. He continues to get better each week, and I knew it was only a matter of time before he would break the school record," said Coach David Astrauskas. "Anthony is very determined to get into the national meet at the end of the season and qualifying is the first step."
        Jonathan Bannister (Plano, Texas) ran a winning time of 52.70 seconds at 400 hurdles.
        "Jonathan's training has been progressing very rapidly, and he will be looking at a much faster time by the end of the season," said Coach Ben Beyers. "He's hungry for more, and that's really the key in a tough race like the 400 hurdles."
        Lee Weeden (Ferguson, Mo.) qualified in a second event. He set a provisional qualifying mark last week in the shot put and added the hammer throw this week. His throw of 172-8 (52.62 meters) is a new school record.
        The men's 400-meter relay team also set a new school record in a time of 42.24. A team must run better than 41.15 to post a provisional qualifying mark for the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
        Dustin Bilbruck (Gillespie) also was an event winner in the javelin with a throw of 196-7. His toss of 203-3.25 last week currently is the ninth best in the nation.
        SIUE will play host to the Cougar Classic on Saturday at Korte Stadium.
        "We're excited to have our home opener this weekend.  We really want to make a good showing for the home crowd," said Coach Ben Beyers. "We don't get to perform at home often, so it's always fun to show the student population what a great track team they have. They can watch first-hand rather than just reading about us in the paper."
        -siue cougars-