May 8, 2004

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University women finished third with 96 points, and the men finished fourth with 72 points at the 2004 Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the Seibert Stadium Track on Saturday.

Southeast Missouri State won the women's championship with 205 points. Eastern Illinois had 101 points to finish second, followed by Samford.

Eastern Illinois won the men's championship, scoring 260 points. Southeast Missouri State came in second with 163 points, and Eastern Kentucky finished fourth, scoring 122 points.

Samford's women's team had four event winners on Saturday. April Howell won the women's triple jump. Howell tied with Ashley Byrd of Tennessee State with a jump of 38-9.75, but Howell won the tie-breaker, jumping a distance of 38-6.75. Jennifer Craig won both the 100-meter run (11.70) and the 200-meter run (24.18). Lauren Blankenship was the winner in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 17:41.01.

On the men's side, Samford's Trent Schmidt won the pole vault with a distance of 16-5.50. Derek Simmons of Samford finished second in the men's discus throw with a distance of 149-4. Patrick Weaver placed third in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:52.33, and Bryan Baddorf came in third in the 5,000-meters, running the event in 15:23.91.