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 Western Carolina University will host the Catamount Classic track & field meet this Saturday, April 2 starting at 10:00 am. |
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April 1, 2005
Cullowhee, N.C. - All day Saturday, April 2, the vision, planning, and anticipation will culminate with the first-ever official outdoor track & field event on the new facilities at Western Carolina University. The Catamount Classic is slated to begin at 10:00 am with several field events and admission is free.
Although the entire soccer/tennis/track project is not one-hundred percent complete, spectators will get a chance to view the future of those Catamount athletic programs. The Classic is also great preparation for both the track & field teams and WCU staff as Western will host the 2005 Southern Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships on April 30-May 1 in Cullowhee.
Nine schools will be represented at the first-ever Catamount Classic, including the host Western Carolina. Headlining the event will be three reigning indoor track champions. The Akron Zips won the crown on the women's side from the Mid-American Conference (MAC), while WCU's rival, Appalachian State, won both of the 2004-05 indoor season Southern Conference (SoCon) titles.
Akron will visit the mountains of Western North Carolina to complete a week of events in the Old North State. Led by MAC Coach of the Year, Dennis Mitchell, the Zips enter the event with a pair of defending MAC Field Athletes of the Week - freshman Auston Papay and sophomore Natalie Sako, who both recently won their respective events with qualifying marks at the Wake Forest Open in the discus and high jump, respectively.
The Mountaineers from Boone enter Saturday's competition leading both the men and women's outdoor standings thus far in the outdoor season. ASU's women hold nine of the SoCon's top times, while the men have seven.
Appalachian State's Beverly Burnett was the SoCon's female track athlete of the week this past week with her 48-6, NCAA regional qualifying distance in the shot put. She leads the Southern Conference in the shot put distances this season. Also leading categories for the Mountaineers is Jennifer Claud, who holds the top times in both the 100- and 200-meter events. For the Mountaineer men, Brian Burney holds the SoCon's top times in both the 400- and 800-meter races.
Additional teams venturing to Cullowhee from the Southern Conference include representatives from the East Tennessee State men and women's squads, and the women's team from Georgia Southern. ETSU's Anna Maria Riccardi will try and take flight in the high jump competition, an event she currently holds the top height in the SoCon. For the Eagles, Jessica Kerzie leads the conference in the 3,000-meter, with Melissa Rays pacing the SoCon in the 5,000-meter. As a team, Georgia Southern ranks third in the SoCon in overall standings and holds the top time in the 4x100-meter relay.
Rounding out the nine schools in the Catamount Classic are Coastal Carolina, Gardner-Webb, and Lenoir-Rhyne. GWU's Matt Knippen is signed-up to compete in the throw events and he currently leads the Atlantic Sun Conference (A-Sun) in the shot put. Coastal Carolina is sending six athletes, three of which are on the women's team that placed second at the Big South Indoor Championship.
For Western Carolina, week one SoCon Outdoor Track & Field Athletes of the Week Adam Puett and Laura Tieszen will lead the Cat attack. Puett currently holds the conference's top time in the 1,500-meter run at 3:50.42, while also leading the team in the 5,000-meter event with a mark of 14:7.09. Tieszen holds leads the team and SoCon with the top mark in the pole vault, a NCAA Regional qualifying mark of 3.80-meters (12-5.5). She also holds Western's best distance in the javelin.
In addition to Puett's mark, the Catamount men currently hold three of the SoCon's top times of the outdoor season, while the women have five including Tieszen's vault. The WCU men's 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relay teams lead the conference with times of 41.24 and 3:17.42, respectively.
For the women, sophomore Asia Davis qualified for the regionals with her school-record time of 1:00.57 in the 400-meter hurdles. Senior Leslie Martin leads the SoCon in the 800-meter run, while the conference indoor Freshman of the Year, Raquel Ramseur, leads the way in the 400-meter dash.
Also seeing action this weekend will be two-sport stand-out, freshman Jessika Johnson, in the high jump. Johnson is also a center on the Southern Conference Champion Lady Catamount basketball team. At the indoor championships in Johnson City, Tenn., Johnson placed third with minimal practice after joining the track team following the basketball team's final regular season game.
Both Catamount squads currently rank second in the Southern Conference overall outdoor standings entering the weekend.
Full results from Saturday's action can be found at www.CatamountSports.com following the event. For more information about the Catamount Classic, please visit the following link: Catamount Classic
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