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 Sophomore Manteo Mitchell ran the fifth-best time in the entire nation on Saturday, breaking the WCU school record in the 400-meter dash at the Western Carolina Invitational. |
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April 4, 2007
Cullowhee, N.C. - On the heels of breaking the school-record in the 400-meter dash, Western Carolina sophomore sprinter Manteo Mitchell was today named the Southern Conference Men's Outdoor Track & Field Athlete of Week for April 4. Mitchell shared the weekly honor with Appalachian State's Anthony Greer, who broke his own school and facility record in the men's shot put with both performances coming at last weekend's Western Carolina Invitational.
Mitchell is the fourth Catamount track & field athlete honored this outdoor season joining freshman teammate Dominique Young (March 28), junior Kerrie Savery (March 28) and senior Asia Davis (March 21).
Last Saturday, Mitchell won both the 200-meter and 400-meter dash events at the Western Carolina Invitational in Cullowhee, while also running a leg of the second-place finishing 4x100-meter relay (40.79). The Mooresboro, N.C., native clocked 21.35 into a -1.7 headwind to capture the 200 by two-tenths of a second. Mitchell's performance in the 400-meter dash broke the 23-year old WCU record held by Earl Bates (46.25), who set the benchmark in the 1984 Southern Conference championship, by two-one hundredths of a second. He clocked 46.23 to win the event, shattering the old track record by 1.07 seconds and edged Brandon Small of East Carolina, who also broke the old track record (46.32).
In addition to leading the SoCon in the 400-meter, Mitchell's hot lap ranks fifth in the nation and is the second-best time turned thus far this season in the NCAA East Region which qualifies him for the regional meet in Gainesville, Fla., on May 25-26. With his relay teammates, Mitchell also leads the conference in both the 400-meter and 1,600-meter relay with his season-best time of 21.22 in the 200-meter dash ranking second by a mere 0.01 second behind Young.
With the SoCon Outdoor Championship looming some 17 days on the horizon (April 21-22 in Boone, N.C.), Western's track teams will next travel to the Clemson Invitational this Saturday, April 7.
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