Image courtesy of WSIU Public Broadcasting
Three Salukis Compete in Paris Olympics
Two SIU alumni and a current student competed in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games held in Paris over the summer.
Three-time Olympian DEANNA PRICE '16 took eleventh in the women's hammer throw competition. Price fouled on her first attempt, and threw 70.18 meters on attempt two. Her longest throw of 71.00 meters (232'11") on attempt three was 1.98 meters short of the qualifying mark to attempt three more throws.
Shot putter RAVEN SAUNDERS, EX '16 was out of the competition after three throws, finishing 11 out of the 12 athletes who made the finals. Their top throw was 17.79 meters. Saunders won the silver medal during the Tokyo Games in 2021.
SIU junior CELIA PULIDO competed for her home country of Mexico in the women's 100-meter backstroke. She finished seventh in her heat and 21 overall with a 1:01 finishing time. Pulido qualified for the Olympics while competing at the Central American and Caribbean Championships in Monterrey, Mexico, where she set a new national record in the 50-meter backstroke with a 28.39.
Photo courtesy of Getty Images
Melton, Team USA takes silver in Wheelchair Rugby at Summer Paralympics
Alumnus CHUCK MELTON and Team USA took the silver medal in Wheelchair Rugby during the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris.
It was Melton's third time in the games, having previously competed with Team USA in the 2016 and 2020 Paralympics, winning the silver medal in both those competitions too.
Melton has also competed in the World Championships, most recently earning a silver medal in 2022, as well as bronze medals in 2018 and 2014.
The 46-year-old has been in a wheelchair since 2002 after a vehicle accident that injured his spinal cord. Melton began playing rugby in 2007.
Melton currently resides in Richview, Illinois with his wife and three children.
Price-Smith joins U.S. Track & Field, Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame
Saluki Hall of Famer CONNIE PRICE-SMITH was recently inducted into the 2024 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame. She was one of six coaches to be elected this year. Price-Smith's long list of accolades began at SIU as a four-year member of the women's basketball team from 1980-1984. As a junior, she led the nation and set the Saluki record for field goal percentage at .650, which stands today. After SIU, Price-Smith made four Team USA Olympic teams and earned many accomplishments as a track and field athlete in the shot put and discus. By the end of her career, she was one of only 14 female athletes and one of only 30 US athletes of either gender ever to compete in four Olympiads. In total, she won 25 national titles, the most by any woman in U.S. history.
She currently resides as the Head Coach of Ole Miss University, where she has continued incredible success and elevated the program to a perennial national contender. Price-Smith is a revered leader in the track universe, having spent time as the President of the USTFCCCA, NCAA Track and Field and as the chair of the NCAA track and field committee. She was inducted into the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2016.
Dacy wows at the Chicago Air and Water Show
It was hard to miss SUSAN DACY '79 at the Chicago Air and Water Show in August.
Dacy is one of only a few women performing airshows in a biplane and is the only woman flying exhibition in the Super Stearman. Dacy flies "Big Red," a World War II-era trainer for young naval aviators.
The Chicago Air and Water Show has become the largest and oldest free-admission air and water exhibition in the United States. Hosted on the shores of Lake Michigan, the annual show has been going since 1959 and has boasted attendances of up to 2.2 million people.
Breana Bagley '22 crowned Miss Illinois
BREANA BAGLEY, a 2022 graduate from the SIU School of Law was recently crowned Miss Illinois.
Bagley was selected from a field of 28 candidates during the annual competition held in Marion, Illinois over the summer. She is an attorney with the law firm of Sandburg Phoenix.
Bagley will compete in the Miss America competition in Orlando, Florida in January. If she wins, she will become the first Miss America crowned as a practicing attorney.
Her platform includes raising awareness about rare diseases and placing medicinal treatments for them at the forefront of the healthcare industry.
Bagley, 26, is a native of Decatur, Illinois. She replaces the outgoing Miss Illinois Jessica Tilton, who served her tenure while she was a first-year student at the SIU School of Medicine.
