Feb. 1, 2005

Cullowhee, N.C. - The Western Carolina department of athletics has named junior runner Adam Puett (men's track & field) and senior forward Jennifer Gardner (women's basketball) its Arby's/Catamount Student-Athletes of the Month for January.

Junior Adam Puett

Puett (Huntsville, Ala.) recorded a Western Carolina seasonal-best in the mile run this past weekend at the Tiger Twilight Meet in Clemson, S.C. His time of 4:11.47 surpassed the previous seasonal-high by nearly a full 10-seconds and set a Clemson Indoor Track facility record by just over three seconds. Puett's time was also only five seconds slower than the WCU All-time record of 4:06.23 set back in 1972 by Ben Bailey. Additionally, Puett ran a leg of the WCU Distance Medley relay team that recorded a time of 10:46.35 to finish second in the meet.

The junior distance specialist began the month by placing sixth in the 3,000-meter run at the Niswonger Invitational held in Johnson City, Tenn., on January 21-22. His time of 8:24.58 currently stands as the 2004-05 indoor best for the Catamounts, and was a mere five seconds shy of the all-time record at Western.

Senior Jennifer Gardner

Gardner (Norcross, Ga.) averaged a double-double during the month of January, scoring 119 points and pulling down 81 rebounds over eight games for averages of 14.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. She also averaged over 91 percent from the free throw line in the first month of 2005, connecting on 32-of-35 attempts.

Gardner started the month slow, only averaging seven points through the first three games, but quickly turned things around at the month's midpoint. She just missed a double-double with 12 points and 9 rebounds in the loss to UNC Greensboro on January 15, and in the overtime loss to Elon on January 17, Gardner scored 23 points and pulled down 16 rebounds. Five days later, in the home victory over Georgia Southern (Jan. 22), Gardner set a career-high of 28 points, adding 11 rebounds as the Lady Cats avenged an early season loss. She followed it up by tallying 25 two games later in the 10-point road win over the College of Charleston marking the third time she surpassed the 20-point plateau in the month. She scored in double figures in 6-of-the-8 games during January, including thrice recording double doubles.

For her efforts, Gardner was named Southern Conference Player of the Week twice, making her the first player in the league to repeat and to also earn three weekly honors this season.

The Lady Catamount basketball team travels to Chattanooga on Saturday (Feb. 5) for a rematch of last year's Southern Conference Championship game that will be televised on C-SET, check your local listings or call your satellite provider for availability. Tip-off is set for 7:00 pm at The McKenzie Arena, home of the 2005 Kyocera Southern Conference Basketball Championships. The game can also be heard on the Catamount Sports Network with air time of 6:45 pm. Both the men and women's track & field teams continues the indoor portion of their schedules on February 4-5 as they travel back to Johnson City, Tenn., for a meet at East Tennessee State, also the site of the SoCon Championships for indoor track & field.

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