DYERSVILLE, IOWA — The diamond where the movie “Field of Dreams” was filmed was a long relay throw away.

Here’s a link to the story at the Chicago Tribune.

CARBONDALE — SIU defensive coordinator Jason Petrino wants to feel good about eight defensive linemen when the Salukis open the 2021 season at Southeast Missouri State.

Here’s a link to the story at the Southern Illinoisan.

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Saluki Athletics will host its 10th Saluki FanFest event on Wednesday, August 25th, at Saluki Stadium from 7-8 p.m. Parents can sign-up their children (age 12 and under) for Brown Dawg’s Kids Club and receive a free membership t-shirt.

FanFest is a free event in which Saluki football, volleyball and soccer players and coaches, plus cheerleaders, shakers, mascots and live Saluki dogs are on hand to greet fans and host a variety of activities for the whole family. FanFest takes place on the field, and Prairie Farms will serve free ice cream while supplies last.

About Brown Dawg’s Kids Club
*Free Membership!
*Free Kids Club t-shirt to first 500 members. Pick up shirts at Kids Club sign-up table.
*Members entered into a drawing to be Kid Captain of the Game at Saluki Football or Men’s Basketball game.
*Free ticket to the Football game on Nov. 6 versus Missouri State, in which members are invited to help form the pre-game tunnel on the field.
*Free ticket to the Men’s Basketball game on Nov. 26 versus Alcorn State, in which members are invited to help form the pre-game tunnel on the court.

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Have a group of 10 or more? Starting today, tickets are available online to the Dayton game on Sept. 18 for just $10. Groups have the opportunity to send a photo and be recognized on the videoboard during the game.

Here’s the link to purchase tickets.

The Salukis enter the 2021 season ranked in the Top 10 in the Football Championship Subdivision. They open the season at SEMO (Sept. 2) and Kansas State (Sept. 11) before returning home to play Dayton. The game versus the Flyers is “Group Night” with $10 tickets available to any group of 10 or more.

When you buy tickets to Saluki Athletics events online, you skip the line and pay the same price.

HARRISBURG, Illinois – Hardin County Cougar Calen Banks has signed with the Southeastern Illinois College Falcons to play both basketball and golf for the 2021-22 season.

In basketball, Banks is a 6’1 guard. As a senior he averaged 19.1 points per game and shot 47.3% from the field.

“Calen is a player who makes any team better. It is always great to add a player local to the school who is as good of a player and person as Calen is,” said head SIC basketball coach, Sam Swinford. “He had a great high school career and I am excited to watch it translate to our team here.”

To learn more about SIC Athletics programs, email athletics@sic.edu.

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois University Director of Athletics Liz Jarnigan announced on Thursday that Associate Director of Athletics for facilities and events Katie Gerlach has been designated as the department’s senior woman administrator.

“I am extremely excited and grateful to step into this new expanded role as our SWA,” Gerlach said. “Our student-athletes are some of the most outstanding young women and men that I have had the pleasure to be associated with and I feel privileged to work with them. Our entire athletic department works tirelessly towards a common goal of helping those student athletes be successful in the classroom, on the court or field, and to be happy fulfilled adults when they graduate and end their athletic careers and I am thrilled to do my part in helping them achieve this goal. I appreciate the support of the SIU Administration and the leadership of our athletic department, especially Liz Jarnigan and Jeff Jones, for providing me with this opportunity.”

The senior woman administrator is involved in senior-level management decisions as the highest-ranking female in each NCAA athletics department or conference office. The purpose of the SWA, which was a mandatory role that the NCAA created in 1981, is to promote meaningful representation of women in the leadership and management of college sports.

A staff member who meets the definition of an SWA is eligible for benefits such as serving on NCAA committees, participating in eligibility hearings and receiving select grants, among others. As is the case at SIU, when an athletic director or commissioner is female, the school or conference may designate another woman as its SWA.

“As a native Southern Illinoisan and a passionate Saluki, Katie is a great fit for our athletic department,” Director of Athletics Liz Jarnigan said. “Her work with facilities and events, diversity, equity and inclusion, and as a mentor for our student-athletes is outstanding. She has quickly become a respected member of the Missouri Valley Conference SWA group, as well as an important member of our department’s senior leadership team. As a result, her perspective in overall departmental operations is invaluable.”

A native of nearby Sparta, Illinois, Gerlach joined the Southern Illinois athletic department as the Associate Director of Athletics for facilities and events in August 2019. Prior to returning to the southern Illinois area, Gerlach spent four years at LSU, where she served as the coordinator of external events. At LSU, she coordinated all non-athletic competition events and facility rentals. She spent two years at Southern Miss prior to her stint at LSU.

A 2011 graduate of Southeast Missouri State, Gerlach was a graduate assistant in SIU’s athletic department upon graduation and earned her master’s degree from Southern Illinois in 2013.

CARBONDALE, Ill. – Four former and current Salukis, including 2016 Olympians DeAnna Price and Gwen Berry, will look to punch their tickets to Tokyo and secure their spot on Team USA for the 2020 Olympic Games continuing tomorrow, June 24 at Hayward Field as part of the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials. The Trials, which began on June 18, resume tomorrow following back-to-back off days.

Price (hammer throw), Berry (hammer throw), Shauniece O’Neal (hammer throw) and Bri’Anna Branch (200-meter dash) are the four Salukis who will vie for spots on Team USA.

The hammer throw will take center stage Thursday at 1:25 p.m. Three Salukis both past and present will compete Thursday, with the top-12 advancing to the final, which is slated for Saturday, June 26 at 4:05 p.m.

Price will look to make Team USA for the second time in her career to further punctuate her rise up the hammer throw ranks. In 2019, she successfully defended her USATF title with an American record toss of 256′-8″ (78.24m). She followed that up with a World Championship in the event in Doha, Qatar on Sept. 28, 2019 to become the first medalist for Team USA in the event, men or women, on the world championships stage. On April 9 in her home state of Missouri, Price threw 257′-10″ (78.60m) to shatter her American record and move up to third on the all-time hammer throw rankings.

Berry took second at the 2016 Olympic Trials and won gold at the 2019 Pan American Games with a toss of 244′-9″ (74.62m). At the 2021 USATF Throws Festival in Tuscon, Ariz. on May 22, the Ferguson, Mo. native threw a personal-best 251′-11″ (76.79m) to win the event and qualify for the Olympic Trials.

O’Neal, a three-time All-American, most recently placed 15th in the hammer throw at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Championships to earn All-America Second Team honors. The Florissant, Mo. native qualified for the trials after she threw 218′-2″ (66.51m) to win her second career MVC title at the 2021 MVC Outdoor Championships.

A five-time MVC Champion and 10-time All-MVC performer in her three seasons as a Saluki, Branch clocked a personal-best 22.74 in the prelims at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships to qualify for the trials. She went on to earn All-America Honorable Mention honors in the event. She will run at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday with the hopes of advancing through to Friday’s semifinal race.

Four takeaways from the series at Guaranteed Rate Field in which the Chicago White Sox won three of four games against the Detroit Tigers.

Here’s a link to the story at the Chicago Tribune.

Remember those days of the Cardinals’ six-man rotation? Well, those days are over. At this point, they’re trying to come up with five starters or even four.

Here’s a link to the story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Baseball’s foreign substance reckoning is here. Major League Baseball, after decades of looking the other way, is poised to begin cracking down on pitchers using foreign substances after a fact-finding mission earlier in the 2021 season determined the problem is widespread enough to warrant intervention.

Here’s a link to the story at CBS Sports.