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 Junior Manteo Mitchell qualified for nationals in the 400-meter dash as well as a part of the 4x100-meter relay team with a pair of third-place finishes. |
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June 1, 2008
Tallahassee, Fla. - Western Carolina's men's 4x100-meter relay team, as well as senior Raquel Ramseur and junior Manteo Mitchell each automatically qualified for the NCAA National Championships from the East Regional concluded Saturday evening at Florida State University's Mike Long Track.
For the second-straight day, the Catamount foursome of senior Zeb Johnson, junior Manteo Mitchell and sophomores Christian Bethune and Dominique Young broke their own school record in the men's 4x100-meter relay. Ranked first following the preliminary round on Friday, Western clocked a school-benchmark time of 39.59 to place third in the region, garnering one of the three automatic bids to the NCAA National Championship.
The four ran a school-best 39.64 in Friday's preliminary rounds to eclipse its own benchmark established earlier this outdoor season.
Individually, Mitchell finished third in the men's 400-meter dash finals with a time of 46.25 while Ramseur finished fifth in the women's 400-meter dash competition with a time of 53.15. Both earned one of the five automatic berths into the national championships. Mitchell's time was a season-best, just missing the school record (46.23) by two-one hundredths of a second. Ramseur's performance was her second-best of the season, just shy of the school-record she set earlier this season (53.08).
Johnson placed sixth with a time of 21.01, his third-best of the year in the event in the men's 200-meter finals with junior Daniel Joseph finished 31st in the region in the men's triple jump with a leap of 14.30 meters, 46-feet, 11 inches to conclude the Western's individual competition at the regional.
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Western's 4x400-meter relay team won its section - the second of three run on the day - with a time of 3:37.58. The squad of Ramseur and four freshmen Carothers, Paulding and Shalyn McMichael finished eighth in the competitive East region after posting a season-best mark.
On the men's side of the 1,600-meter relay, the Catamounts finished seventh in their heat, and ninth overall, with a time of 3:08.39. Among WCU's section were six of the top eight times of the meet. The team of Mitchell, Young, Johnson and junior Thomas Funderburke posted the third-best, four-lap combination this season.
Although both 4x400-meter relay teams missed the automatic berths to the national event, both will stand on their times for the possibility of an at-large bid to the national meet. Also, sophomore Matt Evans finished tied for 10th with seven others after clearing a height of 6-9 in the men's high jump competition on Friday and will remain in contention for an at-large bid to the NCAA National Championship by virtue of finishing inside the top 12 of the event.
At-large nominations will be handed out in the coming days prior to the NCAA National Championship.
