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February 11, 2002
Track Team Posts Qualifying Performances
Kevin Koller (Centralia), a sophomore, and Richard Skirball (Granite City), a sophomore, exceeded the provisional qualifying times for the 400- and 800-meter events at the Cannon Classic on Saturday and may have qualified for the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships to be held Mar. 8-9.
The 4 X 400-meter relay also qualified for the national championships on a provisional basis.
Competitors can automatically qualify for the national championship by passing a high standard. Those who provisionally qualify are placed on a performance list after which the top competitors are invited to compete at the national championship.
Koller ran 400 meters in 48.62 seconds, breaking the old school record set by Kettrell Berry in 1985.
Skirball also broke a school record with his 10th place finish at 1:52.68. The old record was held by Travis Roundcount at 1:53:53 in 1997.
The 4 X 400-meter relay team finished sixth but set a new SIUE standard with a time of 3:17.46. The old record was 3:23.86 set back in 1999.
The foursome of Koller, Tyrone Walker (East St. Louis), Jeff Fearday (Teutopolis) and Ryan Gold (Hartford) set the new record.
“We’ll have to wait now and see if those performances hold up, but I think all three are in good position to be at the national meet,” said SIUE Coach Darryl Frerker.
Tamekia Howard (Florissant, Mo.) was the bright spot for the Cougars on the women’s side. She finished 19th in the 400-meter dash in 57.93, setting a new school record.
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