Jan. 16, 2003

CAPE GIRARDEAU - The Southeast Missouri State University men's and women's track teams will compete at the McDonald's Invitational at Southern Illinois-Carbondale on Friday and Saturday.

The men's weight throw will begin at 5 p.m. Friday, followed by the women. The women's long jump and men's pole vault will start at 7:30 p.m. Saturday's events at the SIU Student Recreation Center, begin with the women's shot put and pole vault at 9 a.m. The first running event will begin at 11 a.m.

"We have had a good week of practice and it will be good to see how we compete," said Southeast coach Joey Haines. "We want our best possible performances and we want to see how our young athletes compete against good competition."

The competition will include 13 women's teams and eight men's teams. The teams include Austin Peay, Belmont, Bevill, Lindenwood, Lincoln College, Memphis, Murray State, Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois, Southern Indiana, Troy State, Alabama-Birmingham and Tennessee-Martin.

The Southeast women expect to compete for the title while the Southeast men should challenge the host Salukis for the title.

Sophomore Heather Jenkins has already established a new Southeast record in the weight throw and will be one of the favorites in that event and the shot put.

The Southeast sprinters will be led by Meleisa Greene who has the best time in the Ohio Valley Conference this season with a 7.15 in the 55-meters. Rose Fulton has the second fastest time in the OVC and LaQuita Andrews has the best time in the 400-meters at 56.53.

Two Southeast distance runners from southern Illinois will compete. Kaci Pilcher (Harrisburg, Ill.) has the OVC's fastest time in the mile run with a 5:22.71 and Lindsay Zeiler (Metropolis, Ill.) has the OVC's best time in the 3,000-meters at 10:08.35.

The Southeast men will be led by throwers Jay Heddell and Brandon Meyr. Heddell has the best shot put throw in the OVC this season at 57-5 ¾ while Meyr has the best weight throw at 51-4 ¾

Shelton Scott of Southeast will be favored in the long and triple jumps. He has seasonal bests of 23-10 in the long jump and 49-2 ½ in the triple jump.

Freshman pole vaulter Jordan Willi has the best vault in the OVC this season at 14-feet.