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 Junior Manteo Mitchell was a part of four NCAA Regional Qualifying performances. |
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March 23, 2008
Charlotte, N.C. - The Western Carolina Men's and Women's Track & Field teams opened up the 2008 Outdoor season with resounding success over this past weekend at the Charlotte 49er Classic at Irwin Belk Track in Charlotte, N.C. The two teams combined for four victories, 21 top-fives, and a meet-leading 46 top-ten finishes.
The WCU women provided 28 of those top-tens, and added nine top-fives and one win. The men came home with three victories, in addition to 12 podium finishes and 19 top-ten performances. They also had eight different qualifiers for the NCAA Regional Championships in six events, including three in the 200-meters.
Sophomore Matt Evans took runner-up honors in the men's javelin throw, with a final distance of 63.05 meters, which is a new school record. His distance also qualified him for the NCAA Regional Championships. Evans then broke his second school record of the day in the men's high jump, clearing 2.10 meters, breaking the old mark of 2.08 meters, last accomplished in 1994. The height also gave WCU's men their first victory of the outdoor season, and qualified Evans for the NCAA Regionals in the event.
Junior Manteo Mitchell, in his first meet since being named the Most Outstanding Runner at the Southern Conference Indoor Championships, continued his domination on the track with a Regional Championship-qualifying time in the 400-meter dash. His mark of 46.92 seconds was the top time in qualifying in the meet, earning him the top seed in the finals. He made the most of the opportunity in the finals, taking home first place with a time of 47.02 seconds.
Mitchell added another NCAA qualifying mark in the preliminaries of the 200-meter dash, with a time of 20.94 seconds, where he was joined by Zeb Johnson and Dominique Young in the top three times of the prelims, with all three putting up NCAA qualifying times.
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In the 4x100-meter relay, the WCU "A" team of Mitchell, Johnson, Young, and Christian Bethune came in second place in the finals with a time of 40.56 seconds, good enough to qualify them for the NCAA Regionals.
Johnson picked up a victory of his own in the 100-meter dash, tripping the tape in a time of 10.59 seconds, a mere .04 seconds off of a NCAA qualifying time. He was joined on the podium by Young, who came in at 10.79 seconds.
The WCU 4x400-meter relay "A" team wrapped up the men's portion of the meet on a high note with a runner-up finish in the event. The team of Mitchell, Young, Drew Tucker, and Johnson finished the event in 3:09.75, which is the second-best time on the team in over two years, only behind the school-record time of 3:08.34, set last season. The mark gave the Catamount men yet another NCAA Regional Qualifier in the first meet of the outdoor season.
In her first outdoor meet as a Catamount, freshman Shalyn McMichael took home third place in the 400-meter dash, with a time of 56.52 seconds
Reigning SoCon Women's Indoor Most Outstanding Performer Kerrie Savery took home fourth place in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:16.41. Teammate Megan Isaacs also came in with a top-ten finish in sixth place, with a mark of 2:18.62.
The WCU 4x400-meter relay "A" team took home the lone victory for the women over the weekend, with their top time of 3:42.67, the best mark on the team in over two seasons. Western took four of the top ten places in the finals, with all four teams earning top-ten honors, led by the "B" team in fourth place, followed by the "C" team in eighth, and the "D" team in ninth.
Next weekend, the two teams will host the 2008 WCU Invitational at the Catamount Athletic Complex. The meet will be held on Saturday, March 29, from 9:45 a.m. and concluding with the men's 4x400-meter relay at 5:00 p.m. For more information about the event, check out the WCU Invitational Information page located on CatamountSports.com.
