Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Track and Field	SIUE Track and Field SIUE Athletics

David Astrauskas

January 22, 2007 4x400 Relay Paces Cougars         The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville men's track and field team had a strong showing at the Saluki Booster event over the weekend.         SIUE's 1,600-meter relay team of Kyle Rose (Kankakee), Chris Littleton (Champaign), Chris Wright (Richton Park) and Jonathan Bannister (Plano, Texas) recorded a time of 3:18.68 to win the event.         "All of those guys ran pretty good legs. I look for their times to keep getting better," said SIUE track and field coach David Astrauskas.         Cody Ellmermeyer (DuQuoin) posted the winning time at 800 meters at the Saluki Booster. His time of 1:56.57 edged Bannister by less than one-half second. SIUE placed four in the top six with Aaron Wilson (Chicago) and Blake Marcum (Centralia) finishing fifth and sixth, respectively.         The Cougars' coach said most of the athletes were competing in either longer or shorter events than usual as preparation for the rest of the season.         "Because of that, better times should come later in the season," said Astrauskas.         Next weekend will be a week off for most of the Cougar track and field team.         Primarily field event participants will compete at the Illinois Invite, said Astrauskas.         -siue cougars-