CARBONDALE, Ill. – The University of Central Arkansas men’s indoor track and field squad worked their way to a third place finish with 74 points in the 14-event, eight-team meet held Friday and Saturday at the SIU Recreation Center. The women’s team scored 46.50 points and finished 6^th of 10 teams.
 
Southern Illinois finished first overall on the men’s side with 248 points. They were followed by Southern with 96. After UCA, Rend Lake was fourth with 29.5 points and Mississippi Valley State rounded out the top-five with 27.5 points.
 
The men did take first in two separate events Saturday afternoon. In the 4x400 meter relay, the combination of Sage Raphael, Chance Tanner, Kelton Ray and Demarcus Harrison continued to have a plethora of success. That group finished first in the seven-team race today with a time of 3:21.49. The same group set a school record in that event just one week ago. SIU finished just behind UCA at 3:21.89 and Mississippi Valley State took third in the event with a time of 3:27.33.
 
In the men’s high jump, Bobby Washington earned 10 points for the Bears as he cleared a height of 2.08 meters. With that effort, Washington tied his school record in the high jump and he has now cleared 2.08 meters three separate times.
 
The men’s squad also enjoyed a second place finish by Demarcus Harrison in the 60-meter hurdles. Matt Benes of SIU, who posted a time of 8.27, edged Harrison’s time of 8.45. Erich Seals of Southern University was third at 8.46.
 
The Salukis were also champions on the women’s side, finishing with 195.5 points. Austin Peay (83.5) finished second and Southeast Missouri State (52.5) was third. UAPB finished with 48 points and was fourth. Murray State came in just ahead of the Bears with 47 points. Finishing behind UCA in seventh was Mississippi valley State with 33 points and Southern with 27 points. Southern Indiana (10) and Tennessee Tech (3) finished 9^th and 10^th.
 
The women were led by a first place effort in the long jump by Jasmine Ellis. Ellis’ jump of 5.63 meters topped Tambriya Barney’s 5.56 meter effort to earn 10 points in the event. In doing so, Ellis set a new school record in long jump, surpassing her own record of 5.53 meters, which she set on Feb. 5, 2010.
 
Tanesha Maxwell joined Ellis in re-writing the school’s record books this afternoon. Maxwell set a new school record two times today in the 60-meter dash. In the preliminary, Maxwell’s time of 7.73 set a new all-time mark. Her time of 7.65 in the final helped her to a third place finish and broke the previous school record she had set in the preliminary.
 
The women had one other top-three finish on the afternoon, coming in the 60-meter hurdles. Jatoi Snell earned third place points for the Bears, clocking in with a time of 8.97. Malaikah Love of SIU and Sharda Bettis of Murray State finished just ahead of Snell with times of 8.62 and 8.81, respectively.
 
The Indoor season will continue on Feb. 23 when the Bears travel to Norman, Okla. to compete in the Southland Indoor Championships. 

Complete Saluki Invitational Results