Feb. 20, 2002

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Ohio Valley Conference championships in men's and women's indoor track will be on the line Friday and Saturday at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Ill.

"Realistically both our teams should probably place second, but you never know what will develop," said Southeast coach Joey Haines. "Our women will use good overall depth to try to beat a very talented Tennessee State team that is favored and our men should win several individual events in an attempt to upset pre-meet favorite Eastern Illinois."

The women's meet should be very close with Southeast, Tennessee State and Austin Peay all having a shot at winning. In the men's meet, defending champion Eastern Illinois is a strong favorite with challenges from Southeast and Eastern Kentucky.

"Our women have to pick up a lot of points with third, fourth and fifth place finishes," Haines said. "Sara Kaznica in the pole vault, freshman Heather Jenkins in the shot put, Courtney Haman in the high jump and Hannah Stuckenschneider in the 400-meters will all challenge for OVC individual titles. Our mile relay team of Stuckenschneider, Laura VanHoevelaak, Lyndsey Stevenson and Laquita Andrews should also challenge for a win."

Haines indicates that Southeast and Tennessee State should fare well in the sprints, but the distance races are really wide open with some top runners from a number of schools. "The distance races are loaded but we hope that Kaci Pilcher in the mile and 3,000 and Amy Arteme in the 5,000 can challenge for top finishes."

The Southeast men have five defending champions including Jaret Willi in the pole vault, Jay Heddell in the shot put, Shelton Scott in the triple jump, Glenn Haley in the hurdles and Emmanuel Opoku in the 55-meters. All but Opoku, who has been slowed by injuries, will try for repeats.

"In the men's meet we have to score our points by winning events and having those who don't win place in the top two or three," Haines said. "We just don't have the depth to pile up points in a lot of events. I look for Tyson Brown to compete for the 800 title after finishing second indoors last season and I think Jason Campbell and Chaz Brown will both do well in the 400. Distance runners Jarod Tanz, Adam Shupe and Chad Sierman have all been running well."

Complete results can be found this weekend on the Eastern Illinois Athletic webpage. Click here to access the results.