Track teams two meets away from OVC meet

Southeast Missouri State men's and women's track and field teams have two meets left until the Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Championships after competing at the Drake Relays last weekend.

At the Drake Relays, senior Blake Smith claimed second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10. 40 seconds and seventh in the long jump with a leap of 23-11 ˝ . Senior Gloria Westlake set a personal record and fourth best time ever at Southeast with a time of 36:05 in the 10,000-meter run. Sophomore Chris Martin placed fifth in the triple jump with a mark of 49-10 feet. The Redhawks have jumped off to a good start but still have work to do if they want to repeat and win the OVC meet.

"There are lots of people having a nice outdoor season, but as a whole we can do better," Southeast coach Eric Crumpecker said. "That is going to be the key to us winning the conference meet, we are going to have to get better over the next three to four weeks, and then we will have a shot. If we stay the way we are, I don't feel to good about it."

"Blake Smith is doing what Blake Smith does," according to Crumpecker. Smith ran 10.31 seconds in the 100-meter dash at the Tennessee Relays, which is only 0.07 seconds off of the current Southeast 100-meter dash record set in 1986 by Dana Gardner.

"My goal is anything under 10.24 because that is the school record," Smith said. "Usually I have good acceleration, but I can't hold my top speed very well. I have been working on just relaxing when I get to the end of a race."

The 10.31-second 100-meter run by Smith is ranked 19th nationally. Smith said his favorite event was the indoor 60-meter dash because it's quick and long jump hurts. At the conference meet Smith will compete in the long jump, 100-meter dash and the 4x100-meter relay. Smith was one of the nine athletes who competed at the Drake relays, and junior Kayla Gutierrez was another. Gutierrez competes in the hammer throw, discus and shot put.

Last year Gutierrez broke Southeast's hammer throw record of 179-01 by setting a new mark at 191-03 feet. This year Gutierrez has made a throw in hammer that was 7 feet from her record with three to four weeks until conference and regionals after that.

"The motivation is to re-break it," Gutierrez said. "You practice your hardest and you don't always want to go all out at practice, but you want to reserve that competitive spirit. Once you are in the atmosphere, it just gives you the motivation to do what you can."

Gutierrez said that her favorite event of the three is discus, despite not liking it all that much in high school. Gutierrez threw the discus and hammer at the Drake relays. Gutierrez took 12th at Drake in the hammer throw with a throw of 169 feet, while senior Sarah Hall took 13th with a mark of 167-01 feet.

"We are just one big, goofy family," Gutierrez said, regarding the throwers at Southeast. "You have the brother who constantly is picking at you; you have the mother who takes care of everyone, and then you have the big sister who picks on the mother, but we all are just one big, goofy family."

Southeast jump coach Matt Koelling said this year was the first time he returned to the Drake relays in four years.

"We got to go to Drake relays this year, which is something I have been wanting to do since my first year here," Koelling said. "Now that I have a really good crew it's just great to be back there."

Five of the 10 athletes that competed at the Drake Relays -- Martin, Smith, senior Reggie Miller, senior Blake Carter and senior Jessica Brown -- jumped.

"Definitely looking forward to the OVC championships that is what we strive for every year," Koelling said. "Some people got to step up, which I believe we will."

Koelling said that if the OVC championships were last week they would still fair well in the jumps, but Crumpecker didn't think the same for the team as a whole.

"Both our men and women's teams are in position to compete for the championship," Crumpecker said. "The key is we are going to have to get better. We can't stay the same as we are right now if we want to have a shot at winning."

The athletes stepping up this year, according to Crumpecker, are junior Ayonna Cartwright, who is having a big year for the Redhawks, senior Mary Dohogne, who is leading the conference in the steeplechase and sophomore Marc Maton cracking into the top 10 of all time at Southeast. Maton placed second with a time of 3:55.36 at the Arkansas State Red Wolves open this past weekend. Up next for the Redhawks is the Memphis Invite on May 1.