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

February 27, 2007 SIUE Sweeps GLVC Titles, Heads to Nationals         EDWARDSVILLE, ILL. -- With the momentum from a team win at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Indoor Championships, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville women's track and field is prepared to compete in the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships.         Six individuals and a relay team qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships to be held March 9-10 in Boston, Mass. SIUE placed 11th as a team at last year's championships, and Coach Dave Astrauskas has some competitors with national experience.         Christine Butler (Matteson) will follow her impressive GLVC performance and compete in nationals in the triple jump, where she is ranked ninth. Butler placed 11th at last year's indoor triple jump.         "Christine is slowly nursing herself to 100 percent after her injury. I look for a good performance from her," said SIUE women's track and field coach Dave Astrauskas.         Callie Glover (Bartlett) will be competing in the weight throw for SIUE and is ranked fifth. "She had a couple of tough meets. Hopefully she can bounce back and have a good weekend," said Astrauskas.         The 1,600-meter relay team of Juliet Alright (Carpentersville), Angel Royston (Florissant), Deserea Brown (Flossmoor), and Valerie Simmons (St. Louis, Mo.) along with the alternate Tairisha Sawyer (Chicago) are going into nationals ranked third nationally. The team's qualifying time of 3 minutes, 44.12 seconds is a school record.         Alrich, Royston and Brown also will each be competing in the 400-meter dash. Alrich is going into the event ranked eighth, Royston is ranked 12th and Brown is ranked 14th.         Brown will also be competing in the high jump. "We will continue to refine her technique this week and will look to improve her height. She will have a busy weekend competing in high jump, the 400 meter dash and the 4x400 relay," said Astrauskas.         Simmons will compete in the 60 meter hurdles, going into the competition ranked 18th nationally. "She started hurdling better toward the end of the year, and I think she can run a little faster than what she has," said Astrauskas.         "I think we are taking a strong group of kids that will have some nice performances," said Astrauskas.         At the GLVC Championships, SIUE won the indoor crown for the fourth consecutive year. Simmons was named the Athlete of the Year. Alrich was voted the Freshman of the Year. Astrauskas was named Coach of the Year.         "Simmons is a senior this year, and she had a lot of senior performances," said Astrauskas.         Simmons won the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 8.30, the 200-meter hurdles with a time of 27.55 and helped the 4x400 relay team win by seven seconds.         Along with Simmons, Alrich, Brown and Royston won the 1,600-meter relay with a time of 3:51.54.         "These ladies have run one of the fastest times in the country this season, and they have ran well in every meet," said Astrauskas.         While an important part of the relay, Alrich also won the 400-meter dash. Her time of 56.67 was a Knowling Fieldhouse record at Wabash College, the site of the GLVC Indoor Championships.         "She has been doing the same thing she has done all year, running faster and faster every meet. Hopefully she continues to improve in nationals," said Astrauskas.         Butler won the long jump with a distance of 5.54 meters (18 feet 2.25 inches) and the triple jump with a distance of 11.80 meters (38 feet 8.75 inches).         "She had a good meet and scored us 20 points, and those were 20 points we needed," said Astrauskas.         Astrauskas took home Coach of the Year honors for the women's team. But he believes that it should be the "Coaching Staff of the Year" award because assistant coaches Ben Beyers and Eileen McAllister deserve a lot of credit for the team's success.         "Each did a great job getting their athletes prepared, and I think we work well together as a staff," said Astrauskas.                 -siue cougars-