Wednesday, February 24, 2010

MACON, Ga. – The 2010 Atlantic Sun Track and Field Championships begin Friday in Johnson City, Tenn. as the Jacksonville women and ETSU men look to retain their Atlantic Sun titles.

Men’s Preview
The top contenders for the men’s indoor track and field team title will have varying styles. ETSU and Kennesaw State looks to continue their duel atop the championship standings as the Bucs hold the top marks in the A-Sun in the 60-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 3,000-meter run, 60-meter high hurdles, distance medley relay and heptathlon. The Owls have dominated the field events with the top conference marks at the 400-meter dash, the 4x400-meter relay, high jump, pole vault, shot put and weight throw.

Two-time Atlantic Sun conference Track Athlete of the Week Duronal Monal of ESTU holds the conference’s top marks in both the 60-meter and 200-meter. Monal set his time of 6.74 in the 60-meter, equal to the championship meet record in the event, Jan. 8 at the Clemson Invite. If the senior can pull off the double for the Bucs, it would give them a key 20 points in the team standings.

However just as key in the 60-meter and 200-meter is Quentin Greenlee, who holds the second best time in the A-Sun in both events. If Monal and Greenlee can both double and grab the top-two spots in the 60-meter and the 200-meter, ETSU might be on its way to another A-Sun team title.   

Kennesaw State controls the leader board in the 400-meter with Ethan Kasson and James Verdi holding the Atlantic Sun’s top times in the 2009-10 season.

The middle distance events (800-meter and mile run) feature two UNF runners. James Post holds the top A-Sun mark in the 800-meter run and Daniel Grass of Kennesaw State posted a time of just 0.24 slower. Lipscomb’s Ryan Chastain holds the third best time but he did not enter the event, choosing to focus on the mile. The mile run always ranks as one of the most exciting events of any track meet and the 2010 Atlantic Sun Championships should be no exception. UNF’s Will Pearce owns the best A-Sun mile time with a mark of 4:08.55 at the Jimmy Carnes Invitational. Chastain made this his sole focus and is looking to come away with an A-Sun title.

Back-to-Back Atlantic Sun cross country champion, Kenneth Rotich of ETSU leads the way in 3,000-meter with the A-Sun’s best time this season, while Belmont senior Ben McGlothlin holds the second-best time entered in the event. USC Upstate’s Gilbert Kemboi should also be a factor as he enters the championship holding the fourth-best time in the Atlantic Sun this season.

Although Kemboi entered both the 3,000-meter and the 5,000-meter which would be quite the double, he may not want to go all out in the 3,000-meter Friday night with the 5,000-meter schedule to start less than 24 hours later. The Spartan freshman holds the top time in the event entering the championship meet and if he posts the time he did Jan. 22 at the ETSU Niswonger Invitational, he’ll set a new conference championship meet record.

The 60-meter hurdles round out the individual running events with ESTU’s Michael James holding the league’s best mark and an NCAA Provisional mark or 7.90, but it is a 55-meter converted time. Tremaine Grant of Kennesaw State could challenge for the crown as his times have improved in each meet this season.

In the relay events, Kennesaw State holds the top time in the 4x400-meter relay and ETSU holds the top mark in the 4,000-meter distance medley relay. Kennesaw State’s Jerome McKinzie headlines the field events with a conference-best leap in the high jump of 7-2.5. The mark provisionally qualifies him for the NCAA championships and sits as the ninth-best leap in the country this season.

The Owls’ Adam Reed holds the top conference mark in pole vault with a height of 15-7, while the Campbell Camels features a pair of solid jumpers in Diego Lawrence and Robert Brunson, who have a chance to finish one-two in both the long and triple jumps. The biggest obstacle for the duo of Camels to overcome will be Ryan Beaver, who holds the A-Sun’s top mark in the triple jump.

In the throws, Kennesaw State’s Joshua McNair and Belmont’s Joe Frye should have quite the duel. McNair owns the conference’s top marks in both the shot put and the weight throw, but Frye sits right behind him in both events. McNair’s best toss in the weight throw ranks only 0.75 inches ahead of Frye’s school record toss for Belmont.  

In the heptathlon, ETSU’s Nicholas Chernikow holds the best overall score with a mark 341 point better than his teammate Jordan Briggs.  

Women’s Preview                                                     
Jacksonville looks to claim its fifth consecutive Atlantic Sun team title in 2010 and become the first school to win the cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field titles in one athletic season. The Dolphins claimed the conference crown last season with a total of 171 points, besting the second place Kennesaw State Owls by 62 points. This season, Jacksonville returns a strong nucleus that includes senior Tiffany Bromfield, redshirt sophomore Stacey Young, sophomore Amalia Vogler, and junior Unique Singleton, all of whom won individual events at the 2009 championship, plus a majority of the winning distance medley relay team in Vogler, senior Ali Ritter and senior Alyssa Deal.

The Dolphins need to fill a hole in their roster after the graduation of Natasha Harvey, the 2009 Most Valuable Performer. Last season, Harvey claimed conference individual titles in the triple jump (12.20 meters), the long jump (21’8”, 6.60m), the 60-meter dash (7.54 seconds) and the 60-meter hurdles (8.55). However, Jacksonville has found a suitable replacement in a freshman from Alfortville, France.

In only her first collegiate season of track and field, Charlene Charles posted a school-record 3,670 points in her first meet to win the Carol Robinson Pentathlon on Friday, Dec. 11. Charles, who won the event by more than 460 points, shattering Harvey’s school record of 3,626 points set at the 2007 Razorback Invitational. Charles won the high jump portion with a school record leap of 5’5.25” (1.66m) and also produced a leap of 18’8.5” (5.70m) to take first in the long jump and ran a personal-best time of 8.70 to win the 60-meter hurdles portion.

Charles bested herself in her second colligate meet to lead the Dolphins on Saturday, Jan. 30 at the Jimmy Carnes Invitational in Gainesville, Fla. The pharmacy major broke a Jacksonville school record in the pentathlon for the second straight meet after producing personal best and NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 3,861 points. Charles recorded or tied personal bests in first-place finishes in the 55-meter hurdles (8.13), 800-meter (2:27.83) and high jump (5-7 (1.70m)). The freshman’s high jump also broke the school record she set in December. Charles finished the pentathlon, winning the long jump with a leap of 19-0.75 (5.81m). The next day, Charles recorded a leap of 19-10.75 (6.06m) to win the event again. Her pentathlon score of 3,861 also ranks as the ninth-best in the nation and the best mark by a freshman this season.

Jacksonville’s Joane Pierre earned a Track Athlete of the Week honor Feb. 8 following the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational with a win in the mile at a school-record time of 4:57.65. Pierre broke the mark set by fellow teammate Alyssa Deal, who ran a 4:59.75 last year at the A-Sun meet. The Immokalee, Fla. native also finished the meet running with the distance medley relay team that posted a fifth-place time of 12:10.88.

As another team racing for the conference crown, host ETSU swept a large portion of the women’s track and field athlete awards during the season. Last year during the 2009 conference championships, Jasmine Ingram finished second in the 400-meter dash, while Zachlynn Blackburn finished second in the shot put and third in the weight throw.

Ingram, a junior criminal justice major, earned a first-place title in the 800-meter Dec. 5 at the Appalachian State Invitational with a posted time of 2:22.48 and turned in a fourth-place finish in the 300-meter run Jan. 9 at the Clemson Invitational. The junior became the first female athlete to earn the conference honor for three consecutive weeks after her performance at the Niswonger Invitational Jan. 23. Ingram beat out a field of 125 competitors with a top time of 55.86 in the 400-meter. The third honor placed the Frederick, Md. native one award shy of the record for conference weekly honors in a season. In 2009, ETSU’s Hedi Dahl notched the weekly honor on four occasions.
 
This season, Blackburn earned a field athlete of the week accolade after setting an ETSU record in the weight throw Jan. 22 at her final Niswonger Invitational. The senior from Tazewell, Va. finished third out of 36 throwers in the event with her heave of 55-07.75 (16.96m), adding over four inches to her previous personal best of 55-03.50. Teammate Bethany Lender won the triple jump Jan. 8 at the Clemson Invitational and earned an A-Sun Field Athlete of the Week award for her best collegiate performance. Lender finished fourth in the event with a mark of 38-09 (11.81m), the best jump against any A-Sun competitor this season.

Kennesaw State looks to continue its climb in the conference standings, relying on Jakia Ragland, who entered the season as the 2009 conference champion in the high jump with a league-record tying 1.73 meter mark, and Mackenzie Howe, who looks to repeat as the conference champion in the 3,000-meter run. Howe made her indoor track season debut Feb. 12 at the Gene Anderson UNC Invitational in Chapel, NC. The Watkinsville, Ga. native won the 3000-meter run with a time of 10:03.98, 13.82 seconds faster than runner-up Jemeli Sang of USC-Upstate. The junior’s spectacular cross country season included her winning six races and finishing second in the A-Sun Championship.

In only her first collegiate season of track and field, Michelle Quimby set the Kennesaw State women's pole vault indoor school record at the Appalachian State Invitational Dec. 5 with a vault of 11-5.75. The freshman from Ballston Lake, N.Y. won the event, which featured 20 participants. Quimby’s teammate, Suzzette Van-Lare had a runner-up finish in the long jump and third-place mark in the triple jump at the Gene Anderson UNC Invitational. Van-Lare’s long jump leap of 5.82 meters (19-1.25) set a new indoor school record, while her triple jump reached 12.08 meters (39-7.75). The Marietta, Ga. native finished as the top student-athlete in both events.

The Owls’ Victoria Jackson also earned a track athlete of the week award for the third consecutive week Feb. 3 after breaking the school record in the 200-meter dash. Jackson broke her own school record she set in the 200-meter dash at the Niswonger Invitational and tallied an eighth-place finish Jan. 31 at the Jimmy Carnes Invitational in Gainesville, Fla., with a time of 25.56 seconds. It marked the third time the College Park, Ga. native set a school record this season as Jackson also competed in the 55-meter dash and placed 14th with a time of 7.28 seconds.

Belmont finished fourth a season ago and UNF claimed fifth, as the Ospreys return pole vault champion Anne DelBovo who soared to an even 10-00.00 mark. Campbell secured the sixth spot, as the Camels’ return top-performers Elizabeth Mize and Courtney Raynor, who each made NCAA Regional appearances last season, while USC Upstate returns 5,000-meter champion Emily Tangwar after the Spartans finished in seventh-place at the 2009 track and field championships.

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The Atlantic Sun Conference is an 11-member league committed to Building Winners for Life. The A-Sun stands for achievement with integrity in both the academic and athletic arenas, with a focus on the balance between the two for our student-athletes. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun boasts six of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun includes a blend of the most prestigious and dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.