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 Senior Raquel Ramseur broke the 13-year-old school record in the 400-meters over the weekend. |
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May 19, 2008
Georgia Tech Invitational Full Results 
Atlanta, Ga. - In their final meet before heading to the NCAA East Regional Championships, the Western Carolina Track & Field team headed down to Atlanta, Ga. to participate in the Georgia Tech Invitational, and proved they were peaking at just the right time, breaking several school records and posting seven regional-qualifying marks on the weekend.
The Catamount men's relay teams turned in a pair of dominating performances at the meet, winning both the 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relay events, and turning in a pair of regional-qualifying times on their way to victory over some of the top relay teams in the nation. The 4x100 relay team cruised to the win with a time of 39.97 seconds, the only team in the field to break the 40-second mark.
In the 4x400, WCU defeated the nationally-ranked teams from Florida State and Georgia Tech, who had both posted top-25 times in the nation this past year. The Catamount's mark of 3:08.35 just behind the team's school-record mark set earlier this year.
Senior Raquel Ramseur, who had already qualified for the regionals in the 200-meters and 4x100-meter relay, added to her list by running a school-record time of 53.08 seconds in the 400-meter dash, topping the old school record mark that had stood since 1995. It was also the top time ran in the Southern Conference this year, and the 15th-best mark in the nation.
Also adding to his already impressive list of NCAA regional qualifying marks, junior Manteo Mitchell turned in a time of 47.16 seconds in the men's 400-meter dash, giving him a total of four events in which he will be participating in at regionals.
Western's relay teams continued their impressive showings with the women's teams, including a school-record time of 45.45 seconds in the 4x100-meter relay. The team broke their previous record from earlier this season, and improved on their regional-qualifying time in the process. The 4x400-meter relay squad finished in the top five in the event, tripping the tape in 3:55.42.
In a season in which he has broken the school record for the high jump on three separate occasions, senior Matt Evans turned in the second-best mark in school history with a jump of 2.10 meters over the weekend. His height is second only to his jump of 2.15 meters last weekend at the Orange/Purple Classic, and the fourth time clearing a mark above the NCAA qualifying height for the reigning SoCon Track & Field Athlete of the Month.
Junior Daniel Joseph, who took home All-Southern Conference honors in the triple jump last month, improved his regional-qualifying mark over the weekend with a career-best distance of 15.43 meters. Not only was it the top distance on the team this season, but it was the second-best mark turned in by a SoCon athlete on the year.
The Catamount men and women will now turn their sights to the upcoming NCAA East Regional meet on May 30-31 down in Tallahassee, Fla. A Total of 12 student-athletes have qualified for the meet, in 11 different events, with some of them qualified in multiple events. Last season, WCU's men's relay teams both qualified for the NCAA National Championships, with several other student-athletes posting notable marks at the event.
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