SIU track and field Meyer helps leads women to second in Valley track

Is Madison Meyer any relation to Wonder Woman? Nah, she's from Carterville. But she was a reasonable track and field facsimile of the hero in the MVC Championships last weekend, garnering many of the ladies' finish of 176 points. That 176 helped the Lady Salukis crawl within 15 points of MVC Champion Illinois State.

But Meyer competed in almost all of the event, blasting the heptathlon record by winning five of seven events. Then, she continued her dominance by getting individual championships in the regular long jump (nearly 20 feet) and placing in the javelin throw (131 feet, 6 inches).

She garnered five more points with a sixth-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles. Meyer also was the lead runner in the Lady Salukis' second place-finishing 4X400 meter relay.

Finally, Meyer was named MVP of field events. She wasn't alone. Primo Saluki throws man Adam Kessler took the same title for the men, and Kayla Scheira, who had top 10 marks in both the 3000 steeplechase and 5000-meter run, won Freshman of The Year honors.

But I guess if Meyer is Wonder Woman, then Saluki sprinter Bri'Anna Branch is Wonder Woman's friend Mala. Branch won the 100- and 200-meter dashes and ran on the winning 4X100 meter dash relay team.

For the men's team, Josh Maier and Adam Kessler led the way for the third-place men's team. Maier won the grueling 1500-meter, 5000-meter duo.

The two events were especially grueling in that Maier, after winning the 1500 in 3:51.75, came back to win that 5000 in record-setting 14.04.7.

All these wins for SIU came under terrible conditions - continuous rains the whole weekend. But the Dawg stars gutted it out.

"What a good few days it was in the rain," said SIU head of track operations Rosalind Joseph. "We really fought through the conditions."

An unexpected star was Caleb Vogel. Vogel came to SIU from nearby Du Quoin and has made his mark this season. He won the MVC high jump at over 6-foot-10.

"It was good to see Caleb redeem himself with a win today," said Joseph.

Also contributing for the men were Willie Rogers (second place) and Michael Bland (third place) in the high jump and Rick Hurley in the discus (second place).