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 Zeb Johnson earned a provisional bid to the 2008 NCAA Championships in the 55-meter dash. |
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2007 Appalachian Invitational Results
Boone, N.C. - The Western Carolina men's and women's track teams kicked off the 2007-2008 indoor season with an overwhelmingly dominant performance at the Appalachian Invitational Saturday afternoon at the Holmes Center in Boone, N.C. The two teams combined to have ten winners, 50 top-ten performances and 19 podium finishes, including a 1-2-3 WCU finish in the men's 55-meter dash, led by junior Zeb Johnson's winning time of 6.25 seconds. Johnson's time also earned him a provisional bid to the NCAA Championships.
Western's men led the way with six of the ten individual first-place runs, including Manteo Mitchell's Holmes Center-record 48.10 time in the 400-meter dash. Dominique Young also took top honors for the Catamounts with a victory in the 200-meter dash. He was joined in the top ten by teammates Duke Craig, who finished fifth, and seventh-place finisher Kevin Johnson.
The Catamounts took top honors in the distance runs, with Jestin Jennings taking the 800-meter event with a time of 2:02.18, followed by WCU's Michael Robinson, who finished in fourth place in the event.
Freshman Matt Evans started his collegiate career with a first-place finish in the men's high jump, with a high mark of 6 feet, 9.75 inches, three inches in front of the second-place finisher.
In the first event of the day, Western started their winning ways when junior Shay McGriff took home first place in the 55-meter hurdles in a time of 8.36 seconds, and was joined on the podium by teammate and third-place finisher Rashanda Simmons.
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Sophomore Annie Bailey took home the title in the women's 800-meter run, defeating her closest competitor by a full two seconds.
Kerri Savery, who took home All-Southern Conference honors in the outdoor cross country season, showed her ability to bring her successes indoors with a win in the one mile run.
All six of the WCU 4x400-meter relay teams took home top ten finishes, with the women's "A" team winning the event, and the "B" squad as the runners-up, and the men's "A" and "B" teams coming in third and fourth, respectively.
This was the only meet for the Catamounts in 2007, as the team will not compete again until they travel to Chapel Hill, N.C. for the UNC Invitational on Jan. 12, 2008.
