Southeast track and field wins only indoor home meet

Southeast Missouri State track and field athletes Blake Smith and Kayla Gutierrez set personal and school records in the Redhawks Invitational indoor track meet against Memphis on Friday.

Smith finished first in the men's long jump with a personal best jump of 25 feet, 4 inches. Smith's jump also put him in contention for to qualify for the national championships. Smith, a Jackson High School graduate, is eighth in national standings and the top 24 advance. Southeast assistant coach Matt Koelling is confident that jump will be good enough to advance Smith to nationals.

"The whole week he looked a little bit slow, but during run-throughs he had great speed and footwork," said Koelling, who coaches the Redhawks' jumpers. "Last year it took 25 feet, 2 inches to qualify and Smith had no problem breaking that tonight, so he'll be in there at nationals."

Smith also finished first in the 55-meter dash, tying David Jackson's school record of 6.17 seconds set 29 years ago.

"Steps were off all week, but they were on tonight," Smith said. "I felt fast, I felt loose and that's what got it done."

In the women's weight throw, Gutierrez set the school record with a throw of 65 feet, 5 inches. The previous record, set by Heather Jenkins in 2004, was 62-4.

"It's always good to be home," Gutierrez said after breaking the record on her first throw. "I was so excited after that throw because that's what I've consistently been doing all season long in practice, so it was nice to do it in competition here at home."

Gutierrez's teammate Courtney Gapelu finished second in the weight throw at 62-2. In women's shot put, Gapelu finished first with a throw measured at 50-9, just one foot shy of the school record she set a year ago.

Gapelu found the support from fans to be a huge motivator and credited her success to them.

"I wish we had more home meets," Gapelu said after being congratulated by her friends and family. "It means the world to me that they came out to cheer and support my teammates and me."

Another high point for the Redhawks came in the meet's 400-meter dash. Going into the event, Tyler Holmes and Devin Upchurch had the same best time at 52.0 seconds. Holmes finished first in the final heat with a time of 52.9 seconds, while Upchurch finished in second place, a full second behind his teammate.

"I knew it would be a good race between he and I," Holmes said. "But I knew I was going to go out and run a fast 400, which ultimately helps me become a faster long-distance runner."

The women's 200-meter dash was another close one between two Southeast runners. Cheyenne Tunti ultimately won but only by a slim margin. Tunti finished in 26.56 seconds while her teammate Jovannie Spears was second at 26.93 seconds.

In the men's 200-meter final, Kendrick Farr and Ellis Maise fought for first. In the end, Kendrick was 0.8 seconds faster with finishing time of 23.0 seconds.

As a team, the Redhawks finished first in team standings with a score of 74.66 points. Memphis finished with 35.33 points.

In the women's long jump, Jessica Brown placed first with a 19-1 jump. Teammate Macy Ritter placed second with a 17-6 jump.

Central graduate Chris Martin beat out Memphis' Jaleen White in the men's triple jump with a distance of 50 feet.

Reggie Miller Jr. won the men's high jump for the Redhawks. Miller jumped 6-7, defeating Darius Lynwood of Memphis by 2 inches.

Abi Sowash and Chante Mosby of Southeast tied for first in the women's high jump with Laura Toldy of Memphis. Their jumps measured 5-4 high.

Kevin Farley threw the furthest in shot put for the Southeast men as well as the rest of the competition. Farley threw 60-3, a personal record for him.

In the men's mile run, Tyson Stoverink easily won first place. Stoverink finished his mile in 4:33.09, 14 seconds quicker than second place finisher Jace Mortimer.

"We had a lot of good performances from our whole team tonight," Southeast coach Eric Crumpecker said. "A bunch of PR's, a lot of season bests and two school records tied or broken, so I feel good going into our conference meet and this should give us some momentum."