Men claim 6th straight championship
Kevin Murphy/Associate Sports Editor
Issue date: 2/26/07 Section: Sports
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Eastern men's track and field dominated its way toward its sixth straight Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship Friday and Saturday at Lantz Fieldhouse.
It was Eastern's 10th title in the past 11 years.
"We just kept showing up and competing and great things happen," said Tom Akers, Eastern's men's head coach.
Eastern won the meet with 207 points. Southeast Missouri finished second in the team-point standings with 135 points.
Nine Panthers took first place and the Panthers scored in 14 of 16 events.
Senior Obe Eruteya defended his OVC Championship triple jump crown of last year by winning the event with a jump of 50 feet, 11.5 inches. That mark puts him on the NCAA provisional qualifying list.
"Field events are key because those events are the key to start things off before the racing events," Eruteya said. "I think it got the meet off and rolling."
Senior thrower Jimmy Schultz also helped the Panthers get rolling Another Panther that helped get the team rolling was. He started Friday with a win in the shot put and kept it going Saturday with a win in weight throw.
Schultz threw a personal record in the weight throw (55 feet, 9.75 inches). Senior Austin Hogue took runner-up honors in the shot put and third in the weight throw.
"I hope it set the tone for the other teammates of Eastern," Schultz said.
Those teammates responded and added to the team-scoring total by recording other first-place finishes.
Junior Kirkland Thornton led a Panther contingent in the 60-meter hurdle finals by winning the event in 8.17 seconds. Junior Mike Embry finished third, freshman Kris Gehrke took fourth and junior Matt Fischer rounded out the scoring total by finishing fifth.
Sophomore David Holm and junior Chris Wesson continued to build the lead for the Panthers.
Holm and Wesson finished first and second in the mile with freshman Wes Sheldon and junior Clint Coffey finishing fifth and six respectively.
Eastern added another 1-2 finish to increase its point total.
Senior Dan Strackeljahn won the mile in 4:14.68 and just edged out Holm (4:15.42).
"I kind of went brain dead and followed Dan," Holm said.
Strackeljahn was the anchor leg of the winning distance medley relay team that helped set the tone at the end of the first day.
The Panthers finished the first day of competition and led team scoring with 66 points while SEMO was second with 41 points.
Junior Brad Butler won the 5,000-meter race on Friday night. Butler moved into first place with 800-meters left and surged from the rest of the runners with 400-meters to go.
"I was kind of feeding off their energy and letting them do the work," Butler said.
Butler finished fourth in the 3,000-meter race on Saturday.
The Panthers continued to dominate with other first-place finishes.
Senior pole vaulter Kyle Ellis set an OVC Championship meet record by clearing the 17 feet mark. Sophomore Ben Hinds took second place clearing the bar at 14 feet, 11.75 inches.
-For individual results click here.
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