Saturday, February 17, 2007

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- The final day of competition at the 2007 Atlantic Sun Indoor Track and Field Championships continued in similar fashion to Day 1 as five more records fell and Jacksonville solidified their reign over the women's competition, collecting 150 points to earn the Dolphins their second consecutive title.

Jacksonville earned its team title by winning seven of 15 individual titles along with the distance medley relay.

Simone Clark earned the first points of the meet with a first place finish in the pentathlon (3,171 points). Following in Clark's footsteps were teammates Natasha Harvey, Janita Ocana and Shaquania Lundy.

Ocana earned three first place finishes for JU, including the 60-meter dash, 200-meter dash and long jump. She entered each event as the A-Sun record-holder and was able to tie or break her own record in all three events. After tying her 2006 record in the 60 (7.53), she set new records in the 200 (24.21) and long jump (19-6 3/4; 5.96m).

For her efforts at the event, Ocana was named the Most Outstanding Field Performer. Ocana was honored as the Most Outstanding Track Performer at the 2006 championship meet.

Lundy also established a new conference record as she won the triple jump, just ahead of Harvey, with her leap of 37-9 1/2 (11.52m).

The final JU individual title was handed to Harvey after she ran away from the rest of the field in the 60-meter hurdles.

Along with their individual titles, JU also earned top honors in the distance medley relay.

The push for second appeared to be a much tighter race throughout the competition.

ETSU and Belmont switched back and fourth all afternoon in the second place spot. With one event to go, the 1,600-meter relay, ETSU held a two point lead.

With a first place finish in the final event, Belmont finished the event with 81 team points. Although not out-right, ETSU was able to hang on, also finishing the meet with 81 team points in a second place tie.

Individually, Campbell's Alicia Valtin had one of the best weekends on the track. Valtin won the mile run, finished second in the 3,000-meter run, and ran away with the 5,000-meter run title.

For her individual efforts on the track, Valtin was named the Most Outstanding Track Performer.

Along with Ocana and Valtin, other award winners include Jacksonville's Alyssa Deal (Most Outstanding Freshman Performer) and JU coach Ron Grigg (Coach of the Year).