Feb. 22, 2008

HOUSTON, TX - Darrick Brown won the long jump and placed seventh in the high jump to lead all McNeese State performers during the opening day of the Southland Conference indoor track and field meet here Friday.

The Cowboy standout claimed the long jump with a leap of 24-4 1/2 and he finished seventh in the high jump at 6-7. He also qualified for the semifinals in the 60 meter dash but did not make the finals after running a 6.98.

Brown also ran the 200 meter prelims but did not advance. On Saturday he's expected to compete in the triple jump.

Also earning points for the Cowboys in the long jump was Marcus Brown with a fourth place which he earned on a leap of 23-11 3/4.

Jimmie Heath finished fourth in the pole vault by going 16-2 3/4 while James Overbo was ninth at 15-3.

Mark Hoey ran ninth in the 3000 meter run with a 15:15.10 clocking.

Vaalyn Jackson broke his own school weight throw record and finished fourth in that event with a toss of 56-0. Also in the weight, John Jamail was eighth at 51-8 1/2 and Freddie Hannie ninth at 51-7 1/4.

In the only other final event of the day for the men, the Cowboys' distance medley team of Jordan Neil, Dwight Charles, Michael Washington and Stephen Scullion finished fifth with a 10:18.86 effort.

In the one mile prelims, the Cowboys' Neil and Stephen Scullion ran one-two and Johnathan Koenck finshed 10th, all qualifying for Saturday's finals. Neil posted a 4:22.63 clocking while Scullion ran 4:25.20 and Koenck 4:27.91.

Sprinter Christi McRae led the Cowgirls. She qualified for the finals in both the 200 meters and the 400 meters. She posted a 25.49 in the 200 and a 57.43 in the 400.

In a final event, Lindsay Brooks tied for eighth place in the high jump at 5-4 1/4 while the team of Tinette Burger, LaDonna Carroll, Sarah-Jayne Boyce and Amy Guinn finished sixth in the distance medley with a 12:36.18 clocking.

Also for the Cowgirls, Guinn qualified for the mile finals with a 5:16.37 clocking.

Scoring after five events on Friday had the Cowboys in fourth place with 31 points and the Cowgirls in 11th place with three and one-half. Stephen F. Austin led the men with 40 points and SFA was also the leader among the women wth 50 points.

The meet will conclude on Saturday.