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 Junior Milton Bolton, who currently holds the SoCon's best time in the 200 and 400 meters, looks to lead the Cats to victory in the league's championship meet this Saturday and Sunday. |
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Feb. 27, 2004
Cullowhee, N.C. - The 2004 Southern Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, slated to take place in Johnson City, Tenn., has been postponed for one day due to a winter storm in the Carolinas and Tennessee. All events scheduled to take place on Friday will instead occur on Saturday (Feb. 28) while all events originally scheduled for Saturday have been moved to Sunday (Feb. 29).
WCU will make an effort to get back on top in the SoCon. Both team championship titles could come down to the very end of the meet, although WCU head coach Danny Williamson feels that his young Catamounts have a chance on both the men's and women's sides.
"We have improved every week of the season in all areas and we are at our best when we need to be at our best," Williamson said. "This is a great complement to our athletes and especially to all of our coaches who have worked very hard together with our athletes to get the most out of them."
Western Carolina currently has several athletes and relay teams which are ranked in the top slots in the conference and will be closely competing for titles in their respective events this weekend, including Catamount Milton Bolton who holds the top time for both the men's 200 and 400 meters (22.03 and 48.30 seconds, respectively). On the women's side, it's Laura Tieszen who claims the top spot in the pole vault by a landslide at the moment, clearing and NCAA provisional qualifying height of 12 feet, 11 and one half inches back on Feb. 7 at Notre Dame.
Several Catamounts go into the Championships as top contenders in their respective events. For the women, leading the charge will be seniors Melanie Cooper (ranked 3rd/3000m, 9th/mile), Becky Signoretti (7th/800m), Christel Kirkpatrick (5th/pentathlon) and Alissa Short (12th/3000m, 3rd/5000m); juniors Laura Tieszen (1st/pole vault, 2nd/pentathlon), Leslie Martin (2nd/400m), Jennifer Spivey (3rd/400m), Tonya Edmonds (8th/800m); sophomores Shameka Harris (5th/long jump, 12th/60m, 9th/triple jump), Cassie Gentry (4th/60m), Miranda Long (11th/shot put, 10th/20 lb. wt.), Chi Sawyer (4th/pole vault), Deanna Kulesz (4th/800m, 6th/mile) and Tiffany Mack (7th/triple jump); as well as freshmen Sharhonda Bell (9th/shot put), Asia Davis (10th/60m hurdles, 6th/400m), Shanna Fouts (6th/high jump), Brittany Whitaker (5th/high jump, 9th/long jump, 10th/triple jump) and Andrea Floyd (11th/triple jump).
The Lady Cats also boast the top two relay squads in the SoCon heading into the meet with the Distance Medley foursome of Kulesz, Edmonds, Signoretti and Cooper and the 4 x 400m squad of Martin, Spivey, Edmonds and Davis leading the way in the league.
Heading up the pack for the Catamount men are seniors Justin Davis (1st/long jump, 2nd/triple jump), T. Alford (2nd/60m, 8th/200m); juniors Darius Bryson (7th/60m, 4th/200m), Milton Bolton (1st/200m, 1st/400m, 12th/60m), James Barr (2nd/400m, 3rd/200m), James Irwin (12th/mile), Eddie Vick (9th/800m), Jason Stepp (2nd/35 lb. wt., 7th/shot put), Bobby Robinson (2nd/Heptathlon, 5th/high jump, 12th/pole vault), Deonte Cook (10th/60m hurdles), David McCall (9th/pole vault); sophomores Patrick Mauldin (6th/60m, 6th/200m), Charleton Grant (9th/400m), Adam Puett (5th/800m, 6th/mile, 5th/3000m), Lawrence Briscoe (2nd/60m hurdles, 1st/high jump), Tyler Ferguson (3rd/triple jump, 4th/long jump), Lamont Reid (6th/long jump), Matt Decker (4th/ 35 lb. wt., 11th/shot put), Wes Willoughby (3rd/pole vault); as well as freshmen Michael Malone (5th/60m hurdles), James Gregory (5th/400m), Ryan Fussell (4th/Heptathlon, 8th/pole vault), Rod Palmer (9th/long jump, 6th/triple jump), Christian Benson (7th/pole vault), Fepile Foster (8th/shot put), Shamar Allen (10th/shot put), Willie Sturgis (5th/35 lb. wt.) and Kevin McAlmont (12th/ 35 lb. wt.).
The 4 x 400m realy squad of Mauldin, Bolton, Gregory and Barr also leads the SoCon standings. At the conference meet, the top eight finishers in each event score points for their teams. The scoring format is as follows: 1st place - 10 pts; 2nd place - 8 pts; 3rd - 6 pts; 4th - 5 pts; 5th - 4 pts; 6th - 3 pts; 7th - 2 pts; 8th -1 pt.
"We feel that any athletes that are ranked in the top 12 spots have an outstanding chance of scoring and making a lot of good things happen in this meet," Williamson added. " Also, we have others that can score in events that do not shoe up in the rankings."
The men's championship battle looks to be between mountain rivals Appalachian State and WCU. Every year it seems to come down to ASU versus Western for the team title and this year is no different. Athletes from both schools have grown to accept and respect this and it is always a friendly battle between the schools. On the women's side, any of four teams look to have a chance to claim this year's title with defending champion App State ahead in the current SoCon rankings. Other schools that the Cats will contend with in the team race are Georgia Southern and UTC. Western will attempt to use its quality to offset its lack of depth.
"Our athletes can compete with any of the best in the conference, so we will battle until the end and see where we end up," Williamson concluded.
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