April 22, 2007

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Western Carolina Individual Finishes / All-Southern Conference Selections
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Boone, N.C. - Western Carolina used a strong second day to win the 2007 Southern Conference Men's Outdoor Championship on Sunday afternoon at Kidd Brewer Stadium. The Catamount women advanced one spot in the final order, finishing third at the annual meet. Western used 22 podium finishes, including six individual event championships on the men's side, while the women garnered 14, top three finishes with four first-place performances on the weekend.

Western's men successfully defended its outdoor crown from a year ago, giving the Catamounts back-to-back outdoor SoCon titles. Georgia Southern won the women's championship in front of Appalachian State and Western Carolina, second and third, respectively.

WCU's Dominique Young was named the SoCon Men's Outdoor Track & Field Freshman of the Year, sweeping both the rookie honors from the league during the indoor and outdoor seasons. Also, Catamount head coach Danny Williamson was tabbed as the conference's co-Coach of the Year, sharing the accolades with Gary Andrew of Davidson.

Four WCU men and two women posted NCAA Regional qualifying marks during the two-day conference championship. Junior Raquel Ramseur qualified in the women's 400-meter dash, winning the individual title with a time of 54.41, while senior Asia Davis again qualified in the 400-meter hurdles (1:00.48), winning the individual championship in the event. In the men's competition, Young posted a NCAA regional time of 10.48 in winning the 100-meter dash, while also qualifying in the 200-meter dash with a third-place run. Sophomore Manteo Mitchell qualified with a second-place finish in the 200-meter dash (21.05).

Young headlined a strong sprints performance by Western as six Catamounts dominated the 100-meter dash eight-runner finals. Sophomores Kevin Johnson and Mitchell finished third and fourth, respectively, with senior Mike Malone (5th), freshman Christian Bethune (6th) and sophomore Albert Ashcraft (8th) all scoring points for WCU in the shortest track event. Mitchell earned All-SoCon honors in both the 200-meter dash, finishing second, and by virtue of winning the 400-meter dash, edging a trio of teammates as Western captured first through fourth. Senior James Gregory ran second to Mitchell, with freshman John Oros claiming all-conference accolades with a third-place run and junior Zeb Johnson finishing fourth.

In the middle distance events, junior Aaron Grant ran third in the 800-meters, just edging out senior teammate, Dan Fassinger, for a podium finish. Fassinger did, however, place second in the 1,500-meter run to claim All-SoCon honors.

WCU also won both the 4x100 and 4x400-meter relay events on Sunday.

Senior Mike Malone accumulated 21 total points for Western in the individual events, running fifth in the 100-meter dash, third in the 110-meter hurdles and fourth in the 400-meter hurdles, while also leaping 7.19 meters (23-7.25) in the long jump to finish on the podium in third.

Additional podium finishes for Western included a third-place vault of 4.45 meters (14-7.25) by freshman Mike O'Steen, a two-through-four finish by Daniel Joseph, Tyler Ferguson and Lee Banks in the triple jump, with Ferguson placing fourth in the long jump behind Malone. In the men's decathlon, Ashten Bennett (5,329 points) led a one-through-three finish for the Catamounts as teammates Matt Harlfinger (4,890 pts) and David Gift (4,857) rounded out the top three.

Freshman Matt Evans gave Western its lone individual championship on the opening day, edging sophomore teammate Rashad Herndon in the men's high jump competition. Evans, a native of Old Fort, N.C., cleared 2.05 meters (6-8.75) to claim the maximum points for WCU. Teammates Joseph (5th), Anthony Rogers (6th), Gift (7th) and Harlfinger (8th) all scored points for the Cats in the event as WCU claimed six of the eight positions. Junior David Bowles placed second in the javelin to again earn All-SoCon honors rounding out first day action.

On the women's side, Ramseur scored 18 individual points, finishing second in the 200-meter dash to accompany her 100-meter championship. Freshman Sherrell Froneberger tallied a pair of third-place runs in both the 100- and 200-meter events, with Tangelia Johnson posting a runner-up finish in the shorter sprint.

Junior Kerrie Savery and senior Deanna Kulesz continued to run well in the middle distance events with Savery winning the 800-meter run, finishing just under five seconds ahead of teammate, Kulesz, who ran fourth. Kulesz, a native of Oak Ridge, Tenn., did record All-SoCon honors in the 1,500-meter run with a third-place finish.

Also recording all-conference podium finishes for Western were sophomore Tara Tounzen and senior Lynsie Lamitie, who went one-two in the javelin throw with marks of 38.07 meters (124-11) and 37.38 meters (122-8), respectively.

The Catamount women also won the 4x100-meter relay in 46.03, while placing second behind Georgia Southern in the 4x400-meter relay event.

With four student-athletes (Davis, Ramseur, Mitchell and Young) and the men's 4x100-meter relay team having already qualified, Western Carolina will now turn its attention to improving its seeding as well as having additional individuals qualify for the NCAA East Regional to be held in Gainesville, Fla., on May 25-26.