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 Western Carolina's men's track & field team made a gallant effort on Sunday, scoring a record 200 points in the final day to place second in the 2005 SoCon Championship in Cullowhee. |
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May. 1, 2005
Please check back on Monday afternoon for a photo recap of Western's performance in the 2005 Southern Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships
Cullowhee, N.C. - On the strength of a combined 32 podium finishes, the Western Carolina Catamount Track & Field teams placed second and third in the 2005 Southern Conference Championships over the weekend.
Appalachian State swept both the men's and women's Southern Conference Championships, which concluded Sunday afternoon at the new track & field complex on Western's campus.
The Mountaineers scored a Southern Conference record 292.5 to defeat the Catamounts, who scored 200 points on the second day to finish with 250.5. Chattanooga placed third (57), followed by The Citadel (48) and East Tennessee State. In the women's competition, ASU scored 207.5 points to defeat Georgia Southern (199) and Western Carolina (155), with Chattanooga and East Tennessee State rounding out the top five.
Western Carolina earned both Freshmen of the Year honors as selected by the SoCon's head coaches. Zeb Johnson and Raquel Ramseur were tabbed as the league's top rookies, with Ramseur repeating from the indoor season. Ramseur placed third in both the 200 and 400-meter dash events. Johnson finished second in the 200-meter dash and won the 400-meter dash as the Catamounts swept the podium finishes. James Gregory and James Barr finished neck-and-neck, tripping the timer at 48.17 and 48.19, respectively.
Senior Laura Tieszen and sophomore Mike Malone were also honored as Tieszen was named the women's Field Performer of the Year after scoring 29 total points on the weekend. Malone was named men's Track Performer of the Year as he led all SoCon performers, amassing 36.5 points.
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Malone opened up the finals in the sprint events taking first place in the men's 100-meter dash, with ASU's Chris Martin second and The Citadel's Quintin Wright finishing third. Malone also won the men's 110-meter hurdles and the men's 200-meter dash, finishing the latter with a SoCon seasonal-best mark of 21.25. The Cats' Andre Brown placed third in the 110-meter hurdle event.
Also on the track, sophomore Asia Davis secured a third-place showing in the 100-meter hurdles with a seasonal-best time of 14.25. When the distance was quadrupled, Davis won the event with a regional qualifying mark of 1:00.77 in the 400-meter hurdles. Sunday marked the third separate time Davis had surpassed the regional qualifying mark in that event.
Senior Leslie Martin captured her third-consecutive 800-meter conference championship, edging freshman teammate Kerrie Savery by just under one and a half second as both earned All-SoCon honors.
In perhaps the closest finish of the 2005 championship meet, Western's Adam Puett edged App State's Adam VanNortwick by seven one-thousandths of a second to win the men's 1,500-meter run. Puett's time was 3:55.443 while VanNortwick crossed in 3:55.45.
Defending javelin SoCon champion, WCU's Josh Lee, placed second to his freshman teammate, David Bowles on Sunday. Bowles' mark was 57.27 meters, while Lee finished with a distance of 56.94 meters throwing into an intermittent head wind.
The day began as Laura Tieszen claimed her second individual championship of the meet. The senior earned the most points by winning the heptathlon javelin throw to secure the title. Rachel Glasgow placed fifth and Jessica Wilkerson eighth behind Tieszen. In the men's multi event, Western garnered three of the top four positions in the decathlon as Bobby Robinson placed second (5,726 points), Matt Harlfinger placed third (5,724 points), and Alex Patton placed fourth with 5,606 points.
The Catamounts also claimed two of the top three finishing positions in the women's high jump competition as Brittany Whitaker took the top spot with two-sport standout Jessika Johnson duplicating her indoor performance in the same event with a third. WCU's Lawrence Briscoe finished second in the men's variety of the same event. Cherokee, N.C., native Miranda Long placed fourth in the women's discus throw with a season-best distance of 42.08 meters.
Western Carolina will now turn its attention to the NCAA East Regionals, for which three student-athletes have qualified. Tieszen, who competed in 10 different events during the SoCon Championships, will now concentrate solely on the pole vault. Puett and Davis will head to the regional in Randalls Island, NY in the 1,500-meter and 400-meter hurdles, respectively.
Final SoCon Championship Standings:Men 1. Appalachian State 292.5 2. Western Carolina 250.5 3. Chattanooga 57 4. The Citadel 48 5. East Tennessee St. 45 6. Furman 33 7. Wofford 30 8. Davidson 28 9. UNC Greensboro 26
Women 1. Appalachian State 207.5 2. Georgia Southern 199 3. Western Carolina 155 4. Chattanooga 91 5. East Tennessee St. 52 6. Furman 33 7. Elon 28 8. College of Charleston 21.5 9. The Citadel 18 10. Wofford 8 11. Davidson 4
Western Carolina All-Southern Conference Performers:
Mike Malone: 100-meter dash (1st), 200-meter dash (1st), 110-meter hurdles (1st)
Zeb Johnson: 200-meter dash (2nd), 400-meter dash (1st)
James Gregory: 400-meter dash (2nd)
James Barr: 400-meter dash (3rd)
Adam Puett: 1,500-meter Run (1st)
Andre Brown: 110-meter hurdles
Jason Stepp: Hammer Throw (2nd)
Matt Decker, Hammer Throw (3rd)
Wes Willoughby: Pole Vault (1st)
Lawrence Briscoe: High Jump (2nd)
Bobby Robinson: Decathlon (2nd)
Matt Harlfinger: Decathlon (3rd)
Western Carolina: 4x100-meter Relay (1st)
Western Carolina: 4x400-meter Relay (1st)
David Bowles: Javelin Throw (1st)
Josh Lee: Javelin Throw (2nd)
Raquel Ramseur: 200-meter dash (3rd), 400-meter dash (3rd) Women's 800-meter Run
Leslie Martin: 800-meter run (1st)
Kerrie Savery, 800-meter run (2nd)
Asia Davis: 100-meter hurdles (3rd), 400-meter hurdles (1st)
Brittany Whitaker: High Jump (1st)
Jessika Johnson: High Jump (3rd)
Laura Tieszen: Javelin Throw (2nd), Pole Vault (1st), Heptathlon (1st)
Western Carolina: 4x400-meter relay (1st)
