SE Illinois News

The Southern Illinois University Salukis are well represented at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with three track and field athletes competing.

Two of the three will represent Team USA in the hammer throw, DeAnna Price and Gwen Berry. Price and Berry actually tied for second in the U.S. Olympic Trials with a top throw of 239 feet and nine inches. Berry had a better second mark, giving her the official second place standing; however, with a third required to qualify, both will be competing in Rio.

Former SIU Hammer Thrower DeAnna Price | Southern Illinois University

Price becomes the third woman in NCAA history to win the hammer throw title and compete in the Olympics in the same year, the first for Team USA. In 2015, Price became the first woman to win back to back national titles in the hammer throw since 2007, only the fifth all-time. In the same year, she finished fourth at the Pan American Games in hammer throw. She's gutted her way through a number of injuries in her career: a dislocated shoulder, a broken scapula, a torn abdominal, a torn MCL, and stretched ACL and PCLs. She also has just one kidney. Price graduated from SIU this year with a degree in accounting.

Berry fully makes the Games after being named an alternate for Team USA in the 2012 London Games. She has been dominant in the event at the U.S. Indoor Championships, taking the gold medal in three of the last four, including 2016.  

Berry is overcoming some controversy, however. She is just a few months out from a three-month ban for use of an illegal substance. Berry declared during an in-competition sample collection at the United States Track and Field Indoor Championships in Portland, Oregon that she had used an inhaler that contained the prohibited substance, Vilanterol Trifenatate. The test was negative, but after a review of her case, the United States Anti-Doping Agency declared she had taken the substance, but accepted her explanation that it was part of a dose of therapeutic medication prescribed by her doctor. Her three-month ban stretched from March 29th to June 29th, and all her results after March 11th were disqualified. This included an American record in the hammer throw at the Tuscan Elite Classic.

Berry's ban is now complete and she is clear to compete in Rio. She graduated SIU in 2011 with degrees in psychology and criminal justice.

Coaching the two on Team USA is women's coach Connie Price-Smith, another SIU alum. Price-Smith is a four-time Olympian and was an assistant coach for Team USA in the past two summer games. She was only a track athlete at SIU for her senior season, but still became one of the school's most decorated athletes. She ranks fifth in outdoor shot put and third in discus all-time at the school, and won indoor and outdoor championships in 1985.

Joining them in Rio, but not with Team USA, is Bianca Stuart, a long jumper for the Bahamas. Stuart graduated from SIU in 2010 with a degree in dental hygiene, and was the Mountain Valley Conference's dominant long jumper during her college career.

She won the individual indoor long jump MVC title all four of her years, and the outdoor title three times. In 2008, she won both titles, and took the outdoor title with a school record jump of 21 feet, 7.5 inches. A two-time All American, Stuart was also very strong academically, being named a 2008 MVC Scholar Athlete winner. She qualified for the Olympics with a 20 foot, 2.5 inch jump, which placed third at the Bahamas National Championships. She holds the Bahamian national record for long lump at 22 feet, 4.25 inches. This is Stuart's second Olympics, placing 18th in long jump in London 2012.

A fourth Olympian, shot put thrower Raven Saunders, started her collegiate career at SIU in 2015, where she won indoor and outdoor NCAA titles; however, after her freshman season, Saunders transferred to the University of Mississippi, where she's currently a sophomore.

Saluki throwing coach JC Lambert attended the U.S. Olympic Trials in a dual role. While he was coaching Price and Berry, he was also attempting to qualify himself in hammer throw. While he did manage to coach those two into the Games, he failed to qualify himself, placing eighth in his flight.

For those wishing to following the Olympic Salukis, women's hammer throw qualifying is  at 6:20 p.m. Eastern time Aug. 12, with the finals taking place at 8:40 a.m. Eastern on Aug. 15. The long jump qualifying round is at 7:05 p.m. Eastern on Aug. 16, with the finals at 7:15 p.m. Eastern on Aug. 17th.