April 12, 2003

NACOGDOCHES - The Stephen F. Austin men and women's track and field teams hosted the Dogwood Invitational Saturday at Fletcher Garner Track. The Ladyjacks won the event scoring 208 points. The Lumberjacks scored 114.5 points to finish second behind Northwestern State.

The Ladyjacks freshman Kasie Query led the Ladyjacks recording individual titles in the pole vault and javelin throw. She cleared a height of 12-6.00 to improve on her NCAA regional qualifying mark. She set a school record and set an NCAA Regional qualifying mark in the javelin with a throw of 158-04. Senior Jessica Claiborne recorded the individual title and qualified for the NCAA regional in the long jump with her mark of 19-8.00. She also won the triple jump with her mark of 41-2.25. Junior Blake Gordon won the discus with her mark of 158-04. Gordon's throw was also a regional qualifier. Gordon also finished second in the shot put with her toss of 48-5.25. Sophomore Shametra Boykins paced the field in the 400-meter dash with her time of 56.47. Boykins also ran the anchor leg of the Ladyjacks 4X400-meter relay team that won the Dogwood Invitational with a time of 3:50.90. Sophomore Jocelyn Stevens qualified for the NCAA regional meet in the 400-meter hurdles with her first-place time of 1:00.52.

The Lumberjacks recorded three individual titles in the meet. Junior Alex Beckworth had a huge night for SFA winning three titles. He led the charge in the long jump with his regional qualifying mark of 24-1.00. Junior DeVaughn Rettig finished second in the long jump with his mark of 23-8.25. Beckworth also won the 110-meter hurdles (14.35) and 400 hurdles (52.96). Freshman Kenneth McKinley finished second in the javelin with his throw of 193-11. Freshman Julian Acuna was the top collegiate finisher in the 5,000-meter run with his time of 14:59.31.

SFA returns to action Saturday April 19th, when they travel to Fort Worth, Texas to compete in the TCU Invitational.

-SFA-