Monday, December 05, 2005

BOONE, N.C. – Three school records fell, and one changed hands twice, Sunday afternoon as Gardner-Webb’s Track & Field season got underway indoors at the Appalachian Invitational, held at the Holmes Convocation Center.

Lindsey Sutherland entered the day as the school’s record holder in the weight throw, but had to retake the record after a battle with freshman teammate Caryn Daane. Sutherland wound up finishing ninth in the standings with a record throw of 38’00.75, overtaking Daane’s brief record of 37’06.75 which left the rooke in 10th place in her first collegiate meet.

Newcomer Cody MacArthur threw well on the men’s side, setting a new school record in the weight throw with a toss of 45’08.00 to take sixth in that event. Justin O’Shields captured sixth place in the 55m Hurdles with a time of 8.07 seconds, also establishing a new school mark.

Overall, Gardner-Webb captured 16 top-10 finishes, a solid start to what should be an exciting indoor campaign. The Bulldogs will be able to compete for an Atlantic Sun Conference Indoor Championship for the first time in 2005-2006, as the league will hold its first such event at East Tennessee State to wrap up the season.

Jeremy Longshore took first in the men’s pole vault (14’11”), while Michele Milner finished second in the mile (5:26.53) and Carlene McLean took second in the 800m run (2:20.76). GWU got third-place efforts from Alex Nimmo in the men’s mile (4:32.76) and Kelley Bridges in the pole vault (10’06.00). Carrie Minard finished fourth in the women’s 3,000-meter run (12:17.00), Merissa Hawkins took fourth in the pole vault (10’00.00), Tim Israel captured fourth in the men’s mile and Tyler Hayden finished fourth in the men’s 3,000m run (9:43.63).

Geoff Lesch-Wragge (mile) and Michael Buckshaw (shot put) captured fifth individually for the ‘Dogs in their respective events. Abbie Crago took fifth in the women’s 3,000m run with a personal best time of 12:29.70, wrapping up a very positive day for the Bulldogs.

“I was really thrilled with the way our freshman throwers performed in their first meet,” said Baker. “For a first meet, our staff came away impressed with the ability of our kids to perform at a high level. We have a chance to be a very competitive team overall by the time A-Sun championships roll around. This was an encouraging meet. Very encouraging.”

Release courtesy of GWU Athletic Communications