Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Track and Field	Women's Track and Field SIUE Athletics

Christine Butler

January 22, 2007 Butler Sets New SIUE Triple Jump Record         Christine Butler (Matteson) broke her own triple jump record for the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville women's track and field team over the weekend at the Saluki Booster event.         Butler broke her old record of 39 feet, 0.5 inches by four inches. The mark provisionally qualified her for the national meet.         "The jump over 39 feet should get her into nationals," said SIUE track and field coach Dave Astrauskas.         "She has been an All-American three times already, and we look for her to be at the national meet this year and do well," said Astrauskas.         Valerie Simmons (St. Louis, Mo.) also qualified for the national meet in the triple jump at the Saluki Booster. Simmons jumped 38-1.25 over the weekend.         "Valerie is a natural athlete. It seems like every event we put her in she does well," said Astrauskas.         "All and all, we had a lot of good performances overall and hopefully we can stick with that trend," said Astrauskas.         Next week's Illinois Invite will be a week off for most of the track and field team. Primarily, noted Astrauskas, field event athletes will compete.         "We also plan on running a fresh 1,600-meter relay of Juliet Alrich (Carpentersville), Deserea Brown (Flossmoor), Angel Royston (Florissant, Mo.) and Simmons at Illinois," said Astrauskas.                 -siue cougars-