Few people might have known about it, but history was made last weekend for the Saint Louis University Athletic Department. The SLU track and field teams traveled to Carbondale, Ill., to compete in the Saluki Spring Classic, which was the first varsity track and field meet for the newly established program at SLU.
The women’s track team finished with five points, which put them in 11th place out of 12 teams.
The men’s team finished with three points, which tied them with Bradley University for 11th place, out of 12 teams.
SLU only participated in the running events, with the majority being in the distance events. In total, the SLU runners participated in 12 out of the 38 events at the meet.
For the women, all five of the team’s points in the meet came from junior Anissa Reynolds’ fourth-place finish in the 3,000 -meter Steeplechase. Reynolds finished the event in 12:38.68.
The majority of the points for the men also came via the 3000- meter Steeplechase. Freshman Matt McKenney tallied two of the team’s three points with his seventh-place finish in the event, with a time of 10:11.60.
The team’s other point came in the 4 X 400 meter relay, as the team of freshmen Austin Critchlow, sophomore Brian Poludniak, freshman Evan Jarrold, and junior Lucas Roethlisberger finished 11th with a time of 3:38.66.
Roethlisberger just missed adding another point to the team’s total, finishing ninth in the 800 meter run.
The top eight finishers in the event accumulated points toward their teams’ scores.
The overall winner of the meet on the women’s side was Illinois State University, who finished with a total of 147 points, nine more than second place Ball State University.
The men’s meet wasn’t as close; Indiana State University finished with 179.50 points, with the second-place finisher, the host, Southern Illinois University, finishing with 120 points.
The Billikens are next in action this weekend as they compete in the Missouri Relays.
The meet is in Columbia, Mo., and starts at 10 a.m. on both Friday and Saturday mornings.
