Feb. 23, 2002
JOHNSON CITY, TN -- Western Carolina finished second in both men's and women's competitions at the Southern Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships Saturday afternoon in Johnson City, TN. The women finished with 111 points, while the men moved up from seventh place after day one to finished with 100.
Three Southern Conference Indoor meet records fell during the two-day competition. Western Carolina's Michelle Velez broke the women's pole vault height on Friday when she vaulted 3.85 meters. Appalachian State's LaShanna Poole broker her own record set a year ago in the women's 20-lbs. weight throw. She won the competition with her toss of 17.15 meters. Also, the Catamount women's 4X400-meter relay team ran a time of 3:48.89 to earn first place and break the time set by ETSU in last season's championship.
Other Catamounts earning first place honors this weekend include Virginia LaCombe who won the women's high jump at 1.70 meters. The WCU women finished in the top three spots in the pole vault with Michelle Valez coming out first. Also for the women, Ronetta Burgess placed first in the 200-meter with a time of 24.64.
For the WCU men, Darrus Cofield finished first in the 200-meter with a time of 21.64, and placed first again in the 400-meter with a time of 47.45. Charles Rice earned first place for the Catamounts in the pole vault with a vault of 4.96 meters.
The Southern Conference head coaches named their 2002 Southern Conference Indoor Track & Field Most Outstanding Performers, Freshman, and Coach of the Year following the conclusion of the championships Saturday. For the men, Western Carolina's Caleb Bailey was named the Track Most Outstanding Performer, and Milton Bolton was named the SoCon Freshman of the Year.
Bailey scored 20 points for the Catamounts, winning both the men's one-mile and 800-meter events. Bailey crossed the line with a time of 4:13.76 in the mile and 1:54.24 in the 800. Bolton finished third in the 400-meter dash and fourth in the 200-meter to earn the men's freshman honors. He was also on Western's men's 4X400-meter relay team.
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For the rest of the women, Chattanooga placed third with 96 points, followed by Georgia Southern (69), East Tennessee State (52), UNC Greensboro (17), Furman (7), VMI (3) and Davidson (2).
For the men, VMI placed third with 86, followed by Chattanooga (69), East Tennessee State (53), The Citadel (28), Davidson (17), and UNCG (3).
Complete results are availabe on the Indoor Track & Field page at www.SoConSports.com
Results may also be obtained at: http://www.cfpitiming.com/socon_track_indoor%202002%20homepage.htm
