Natasha Harvey broke the A-Sun Championship record and earned an NCAA provisional mark in winning the heptathlon. Courtesy ASunPhotos.com
Date Posted: 5/17/2008
CLEMSON, S.C. - Led by the Most Outstanding Field Performer, Natasha Harvey, Jacksonville joined UCF as the only two programs to win three Atlantic Sun Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships in succession. The Dolphins overcame a 23-point lead after day one to win by an even 50-point margin on Saturday at the Rock Norman Track and Field Complex on the campus of Clemson University
As was the case at the 2008 Indoor Championship, Harvey garnered the Most Outstanding Field Performer award. On Friday, she won the long jump for the third straight year, then on Saturday added her third straight A-Sun title in the 100-meter hurdles after taking second to her teammate Shaquania Lundy in the triple jump. Harvey would also anchor the Dolphins third-place 400-meter relay squad.
"I'm glad we got this one because we were really nervous going in," Harvey said. "We knew we were going to have to sacrifice a lot, especially our bodies, and a lot of us did a lot of events, so this one was well deserved."
Early on Saturday, Harvey wrapped up a dominating performance in the decathlon by winning with a record total of 5,096 points. She extended her lead in the first event of the day, the long jump, with a jump of 6.15m. She tallied 896 points in the event, more than doubling her overnight lead to almost 400 points. The junior from New Haven, Conn., earned an NCAA provisional mark with her score.
Unique Singleton added to Jacksonville's gold-medal count as the freshman earned an NCAA Regional qualifying time of 54.55 seconds in winning the 400-meter dash. She would also score in the triple jump, taking fifth, en route to winning the Most Outstanding Freshman Performer honor, an award won by Harvey in 2006. Her coach, Ron Grigg, won his third Coach of the Year award.
The Dolphins easily out-paced the competition, despite a game effort from Belmont and Lynette Rives. Rives earned the Most Outstanding Track Performer award after becoming the fourth woman in the last six years to win both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. Last year, she won the 200 and finished second in the 100 to former Jacksonville standout Janita Ocana. She also placed third to the Jacksonville duo in the long jump and ran the final leg of the Bruins' 400-meter medley, a team that took second. The Bruins also scored individual wins on Saturday by Lauren Weaver in the 1,500-meter run, Brittany Thune, who backed up her win Friday night in the 10,000-meter run with a win in the 5,000, and Elizabeth Pollock in the 400 hurdles with an NCAA Regional qualifying time of 1:00.42.
After back-to-back fifth-place finishes, UNF's women improved to third places thanks in part to Amy Stroder's win in the high jump and second-place finish in the heptathlon. Sarah Coghlan added a win in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Gardner-Webb closed out the meet in fourth place with 90 points, 29 ahead of ETSU. Campbell edged out Kennesaw State by a half point for seventh with 45.5 points.
The Atlantic Sun Conference is a 12-member league committed to Building Winners for Life, with a focus on academic and athletic integrity and a balance between the two for the student-athlete, and maintaining a high level of sportsmanship. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun encompasses six of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun consists of some of the most dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Gardner-Webb University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.
