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 Junior Manteo Mitchell will look to repeate last year's national championship-qualifying performance this weekend. |
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May 29, 2008
2008 East Regional Preview Podcast
2008 NCAA East Regional Friday Heat Sheet 
2008 NCAA East Regional Meet Schedule
East Regional Meet Information
Cullowhee, N.C. - Following a pair of top-two finishes at the Southern Conference Championships, the WCU men's and women's track & field teams are gearing up to take part in the 2008 NCAA East Regional, which will be held at the Mike Long Track in Tallahassee, Fla. The meet will be hosted by Florida State University, and will take place on Friday, May 30 through Saturday, May 31.
For the 2008 SoCon Outdoor Track & Field Champion WCU women's team, six individuals qualified for the regionals, as well as both the 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relay teams. The Catamount men, who were the runners-up at the SoCon Outdoor Championships, six athletes will be participating this weekend in seven different events, including both the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams.
In the individual events, the top five finishers will automatically qualify to advance to the NCAA National Championships, which will be held in Des Moines, Iowa, June 11-14. In the relay events, only the top three teams will garner an automatic qualification. A top-12 finish, however, allows for the possibility of receiving an at-large invitation to the national championship meet.
The Catamount men will be led by the SoCon men's indoor and outdoor Athlete of the Year, junior Manteo Mitchell. Mitchell qualified for the regional in four different events, but decided to not run in the 200-meters in order to focus on helping his team advance in the 4x400-meter and 4x100-meter relays, as well as turning in a top individual performance in the 400-meters. He was the SoCon champion in the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes at the outdoor championships last month, and holds the top time in the conference this season in the 400-meters.
Western's excellence in the sprint events this season has translated in at least one regional qualifier in each of the three short-distance races this weekend. In addition to Mitchell in the 400-meters, sophomore Dominique Young will run in the 100-meter dash, and senior Zeb Johnson will look to advance in the 200-meter dash, an event in which he comes into the weekend with as the fourth-ranked runner in the region. Both Young and Johnson hold the top marks in the SoCon this season for their respective distances, and both brought home first-place finishes at the conference outdoor championships.
In the field events, the WCU men are taking part in three different events, with four athletes competing. Sophomore Matt Evans will pull double-duty at the meet, having qualified in both the high jump and the javelin throw. The reigning SoCon Male Athlete of the Month set not one, but two school records in two events this past year, having jumped a school record-breaking height of 2.15 meters, tied for fifth-best in the region, and recorded a top distance in the javelin of 66.66 meters, which is the only mark over 60 meters by a SoCon thrower this year.
Evans will be joined in the field by teammates David Bowles in the javelin and junior Daniel Joseph in the triple jump. Bowles, a senior, closed out his SoCon career with the top finish in the javelin at the outdoor championships, and Joseph comes into the weekend with four wins on the season.
Western's women will also hold a spot in each of the sprint events, led by the SoCon Outdoor Championship's Most Valuable Performer, senior Raquel Ramseur, whose school-record time of 53.08 seconds in the 400-meter dash ranks seventh in the East Region this season.
Ramseur, who joined Evans as the SoCon Athlete of the Month for April, also set a school record in the 200-meter dash, but will hand over duties in that event to freshman teammate Felicia Paulding, who ran a career-best time of 23.76 seconds at the SoCon championships. Senior Tangelia Johnson's All-SoCon performance in the 100-meters qualified her for the regional, where she will hope to add to her two wins in the event this season.
Also looking to advance to the national championships individually will be senior Kerrie Savery, who ran her 800-meter qualifying time in the final tune-up meet at Georgia Tech, junior Rashanda Simmons, who took home top honors at the SoCon meet in the 100-meter hurdles, and fellow junior Tara Tounzen, whose qualifying distance in the javelin was good for first place at the SoCon championships.
In yet another testament to the strength of WCU's sprinters, all four of the relay teams qualified for the regional championships, to add onto their four SoCon championships from last month.
The men boast a pair of top-six regional rankings, with the 4x100-meter team's school-record time of 39.87 seconds coming in as the fifth-best in the East Region, and the 4x400-meter relay's 3:08.35 time ran two weeks ago at the Georgia Tech Invitational is the sixth-fastest in the region.
At the Georgia Tech Invitational, the women's 4x100-meter relay team posted a school-record time of 45.45 seconds to improve on their qualifying mark, which was the nation's 43rd-fastest mark this year. Rounding out the Catamount contingent in the relays will be the women's 4x400-meter relay team, who comes into the meet with a qualifying time of 3:41.25, good for 46th-fastest in the nation.
Last season, the men's 4x100-meter relay team earned an at-large bid to the national championships, in addition to Mitchell receiving an at-large invitation in the 400-meter dash. The relay team finished fifth at the regional that year on their way to a ninth-place performance at the national championship, with Mitchell coming in 26th in the 400-meters.
Fans can follow all the results from Tallahassee by visiting CatamountSports.com after each day of competition, or by visiting www.TrackShark.com for live results from the meet.
Western Carolina Student-Athletes Competing in 2008 NCAA East Regional:
Dominique Young - 100-meter dash, 4x100-meter relay, 4x400-meter relay
Zeb Johnson - 200-meter dash, 4x100-meter relay, 4x400-meter relay
Manteo Mitchell - 400-meter dash, 4x100-meter relay, 4x400-meter relay
Christian Bethune - 4x100-meter relay
Drew Tucker - 4x400-meter relay
Matt Evans - High Jump, Javelin
Daniel Joseph - Triple Jump
David Bowles - Javelin
Tangelia Johnson - 100-meter dash, 4x100-meter relay, 4x400-meter relay
Felicia Paulding - 200-meter dash, 4x100-meter relay, 4x400-meter relay
Raquel Ramseur - 400-meter dash, 4x100-meter relay, 4x400-meter relay
Kerrie Savery - 800-meter run
Rashanda Simmons - 100-meter hurdles
Tara Tounzen - Javelin
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