April 30, 2009

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - After finishing second to Eastern Illinois in both the men's and women's Ohio Valley Conference indoor championships, the Southeast Missouri State women's team looks to challenge for the outdoor title on Friday and Saturday at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Ky.

The Redhawks women should pile up valuable points in the field events with Southeast athletes having the best marks in the triple jump, discus, shot put and javelin. Junior Ashley Brewer, the OVC Field Athlete of the Year, has the best throw in the discus at 158-1 and shot put, 49-0 ¼. She also has the fifth best javelin throw in the OVC this season.

Ashley Brewer is the 2009 OVC Female Field Athlete of the Year.

The javelin will be a key event with Samantha Espiricueta having the OVC's top throw at 143-0 while Rebecca Martin has the second best at 141-10. Chloe Tubbs is ranked fourth with Brewer fifth.

Freshman Shemieka Brewer, the OVC indoor triple jump champion, has battled injuries during the outdoor season but still has the best jump in the league this season at 39-3.

"We should be able to gain valuable points in the field events, but the real key is to beat Eastern Illinois when we go head to head in any event," said Southeast coach Eric Crumpecker. "Rachel Kahle will compete in a number of events on the track and will long jump and possibly triple jump and Juli Koenegstein will be a key competitor in the distance events."

Kahle, a sophomore, will run the 100-meters, 200-meters and both relay events in addition to the long and triple jumps. Koenegstein will run the steeplechase on Friday and the 1,500 and 5,000-meters on Saturday. She has the top steeple time in the OVC this season.

The Southeast men have been hard hit by injuries and several key performers will not compete this weekend. The group sidelined by injuries includes defending triple jump champion Bilal Hameed, defending 1,500-meter champion Paul Stemmerman, Dustin Davis, Ryan Criglar, Antoine Smith and Yemi Oduwole.

The Redhawks men will also be strong in field events. Brandon Colbert, the OVC Field Athlete of the Year, will be favored in the discus where he has a seasonal best of 177-2. Josh Uchtman, the OVC indoor Field Athlete of the Year, has the top throw in the shot this season and Andy Glass is the OVC defending champion in the shot put.

Richard Martin has the OVC's best javelin throw and Tyler Terry, the OVC indoor long and triple jump champion, has the best long jump this season.

"Our men's team is leaving too many points at home with injuries to defend the OVC title they won last season, but I expect them to compete well and win a lot of events," Crumpecker said. "Brandon Karcher is the defending champion in the 10,000-meters, Nate Shipley was the indoor 5,000-meter champion and Myron Pettigrew has been showing steady improvement in the sprints."