EUGENE, Ore. — Five Saluki track and field student-athletes will compete over the next four days at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at historic Hayward Field located at the University of Oregon.
The Salukis will have five participants at the national meet competing in six events: Josh Freeman (shot put), Ashley Gaston (discus, shot put), Kyle Landon (high jump), Alexus Scott (shot put) and Curtis Wideman (hammer throw).
Live results will be available at Flash Results and the championships will be broadcast by ESPN each day. Wednesday and Thursday’s action can be watched for free on ESPN3, and Friday and Saturday’s events can be watched either on ESPNU or on ESPN3/WatchESPN with a cable/satellite provider login that carries ESPNU.
SIU’s first competitor will be sophomore Josh Freeman in flight two of the shot put Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. Freeman is coming off a third-place finish at the NCAA West Regional and an upset victory for the 2014 Missouri Valley Conference outdoor shot put title. In the process of winning the outdoor conference title — his second in two seasons at SIU — Freeman reset his own SIU all-time outdoor record and broke the MVC Outdoor Championships record in the process on his winning heave of 19.86m. His latest PR puts him ninth place in the NCAA and 26th in the United States in 2014.
Freeman has a chance to become the first male Saluki All-American in the outdoor shot put since three-time Olympian and two-time shot put silver medalist George Woods did so in 1966 (fourth place), the same year he won the NCAA indoor shot title.
Thursday will feature two Saluki throwers: juniors Ashley Gaston (discus) and Curtis Wideman (hammer throw). First up at 11:30 a.m. will be Wideman in flight two of the hammer, who came through in the clutch at the regional meet in order to secure his spot in Eugene. In 10th place with two throws left, Wideman uncorked a personal-best throw of 64.32m to launch himself up to fifth place.
Gaston, the only Saluki to qualify for multiple events, will begin her stay in Eugene with the discus at noon on Thursday. Gaston was in the second-best flight of the regional meet but was still able to punch her ticket in the event. She stood in second place after two flights, and after the higher-seeded third flight took their attempts she found herself in finals with a chance. Gaston improved slightly in the finals round to cling to the 11th qualifying spot, her second ticket to Eugene in as many days as she qualified in the shot put just one day earlier.
After already winning the 2014 MVC discus championship by five feet on May 18, Gaston now has a chance to earn All-American honors in both the shot put and discus — something only one other Saluki has ever done: three-time NCAA Champion Jeneva McCall in 2010 (NCAA Champion in the discus, fifth in the shot put). Gaston will compete in the shot put on Saturday morning along with sophomore Alexus Scott.
At 1:20 p.m. on Friday, Southern’s youngest competitor will take the stage. Freshman Kyle Landon, already a two-time MVC high jump champion, will look to join the esteemed ranks of Olympians Darrin Plab and Cameron Wright by adding his name to the list of SIU All-American high jumpers.
Landon came within one miss of his freshman campaign coming to a close at the regional meet on May 30. With two misses at 2.12m (6-11.50), Landon cleared on his third and final attempt to keep his season alive. He hit his next height of 2.16m (7-01.00) on his first attempt, which was good enough for eighth place and a trip to Eugene.
Landon now has a chance to become the first Saluki All-American in the high jump since Cameron Wright did so indoors in 1996, and the first outdoors since Wright did in 1995.
Herrin High School alum Zach Riley will also compete in the high jump, for Kansas State University.
Southern’s final day in Eugene will revolve around the women’s shot put at 11 a.m. Both Ashley Gaston (Flight One) and sophomore Alexus Scott (Flight Two) will compete in the shot for a chance to become the first Saluki teammates to earn First-Team All-American status in the same event since 2010.
Gaston was the 2014 MVC shot put runner-up and enters the meet on the NCAA’s 25th-best throw of 2014 at a PR of 16.22m. Scott hit a huge PR of 15.91m (52-02.50) to finish 11th at the regional meet to punch her ticket. Both Salukis rank back-to-back on SIU’s all-time list in the event in fifth and sixth place, respectively.
Comments are closed.