Lamar Men and Women Finish Fourth at SLC Indoor Track Championship :: Cardinals grab four individual titles on day two

Feb. 23, 2008

HOUSTON - The Lamar University men's and women's track teams wrapped up the 2008 Southland Conference Indoor Championship at the Yeoman Field House at the University of Houston with a pair of fourth place finishes as the women scored 72 points and the men scored 62 points.

The men's fourth place finish is the highest finish in an indoor conference meet for Lamar since the 1993 team finished in fourth place in the Sun Belt Conference. It is the highest Southland Conference finish for an LU team since the 1986 team finished in second place. The women's team duplicated their fourth place effort from a year ago.

Clerc Koenck set the tone for the Lady Cardinals by defending her title in the mile run with a championship performance of 4:47.16, which was 15 seconds ahead of the second place finisher. Koenck was the only runner to finish the race in less than five minutes.

Koenck continued her dominance of the SLC indoor meet in the 3,000 meter run final, as she coasted to the title in a time of 9:48.50. The win completed the trio of titles that she won a year ago, as she repeated in the mile, the 3,000 and distance medley relay.

Renee Graham, who won the 5,000 meter run on Friday night, notched a second place finish in the 3,000 meter run, crossing the line just behind Koenck in a time of 9:56.75

Karesse Lethermon joined Koenck in the mile run finals, grabbing a seventh place finish in a personal-best time of 5:14.41.

Francis Kasagule and Frank Bwambale followed the women's pair in the men's mile run finals, grabbing a first place and ninth place finish respectively. Kasagule defended his mile championship with a 4:14.37 performance and Bwambale crossed the line in 4:24.91.

The Cardinals fourth title of the day came in the men's 800 meter run as Ewan Simpson collected the first individual championship of is career. Simpson won a closely contested race in a time of 1:55.27, edging out Bryan Ugochukwu of UTSA by three tenths of a second. The top four finishers in the all crossed the line within 0.52 seconds of each other.

Jessika Johnson, who set a new school record in the 60-meter hurdles with an 8.70 second performance in the prelims on Friday, crossed the finish line in seventh place in the finals. Johnson finished the finals in 9.00 seconds.

In the men's 60 meter dash final Michael Gauthier grabbed the third top seven finish of his SLC indoor career with a seventh place finish. Gauthier crossed the finish line in 6.96 seconds.

Brittany Pollard and Toni Sylvester both had solid showings in the women's 400 meter dash, finishing third and fifth respectively.

Pollard made her mark in the Lamar University record book by setting a new school record in the quarter mile, sprinting to a 55.99 finish for third place. The junior bested the previous record of 56.40 run by Sylvester in 2005. She then followed up her 400 performance with a seventh place finish in the 200 meter dash in a time of 25.89.

Sylvester, who finished in seventh place at the 2006 SLC indoor championship, crossed the finish line in a time of 56.57 which ranks as the third fastest time in school history.

In the men's 400 Jerel Massenburge earned all conference honors with a third place finish in a time of 49.14. The performance was nearly four tenths of a second better than the personal-best of 49.53 he ran on Friday night in the prelims.

In the men's 200 meter dash final Stephen Boone grabbed an eighth place finish in a time of 22.60.

In the final individual final of the meet Kasagule and Samuel Kosgei finished in second and fourth place of the men's 3,000 meter run. Kasagule ran to an 8:17.07 finish while Kosgei crossed the line in 8:31.09.

The women's 4x400 meter relay team of Ashley Smith, Sylvester, Johnson and Pollard ran their way to a second place finish in a time of 3:50.79. The men's relay team of Julius Kasule, Massenburge, Boone and Greg Williams notched a fifth place finish in a time of 3:20.21.