May 11, 2008

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin men's and women's track and field team wrapped up the 2008 Southland Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships Sunday evening in Huntsville, Texas. The Ladyjacks scored 124.83 points to finish third overall, while the 'Jacks posted a score of 83.5 points to finish fifth overall.

SFA added to its list of individual honors on the final day of the meet. The two teams combined for 10 All-Southland Conference selections, six NCAA regional marks and one school record.

Sophomore Silent-Joy Egboba-Waye recorded a school record, and set an NCAA regional mark in the women's 110-meter hurdles. Egboba-Waye posted a time of 13.79 seconds to finish second overall, eclipsing the old school record by 200-hundredths of a second. Classmate Tabitha Riley scored two points in the event finishing seventh overall (14.38).

Senior Zach Ross also recorded an All-SLC honor Sunday by recording a second-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles. Ross recorded an NCAA regional mark with his time of 14.19.

Freshman Arteria Sterns recorded two all-conference honors on the final day of the meet. Sterns added a conference runner-up finish to her résumé with a second-place finish in the women's 100 meters. Sterns clocked an NCAA regional time of 11.66 in the event. She just missed the school record by four-hundredths of a second. She returned to the track to post a third-place finish in the 200-meter dash (23.95). Sterns time of 23.95 qualifies for the regional meet by one one-hundredth of a second.

Two Lumberjacks reached the finals of the men's 200-meter dash. Senior Stephon Rhea finished sixth overall with a time of 21.36. Rhea was joined in the top eight by freshman Ty Thomas who clocked a 21.84 to finish eight overall. Rhea returned to the track and recorded a fifth-place finish in the men's 100-meter dash with his NCAA regional mark of 10.46.

Freshman Amy Shackelford recorded an All-SLC finish in the women's 5,000-meter run. Shackelford clocked a time of 17:44.09 to finish third overall. In the men's 5,000 meters, junior Keith Mahipala finished seventh overall with a time of 14:58.12.

Senior Kristina Windham recorded her second SLC runner-up finish of the 2008 season, duplicating what she accomplished during the indoor championships. Windham cleared a height of 12-1.50 to finish second overall in the event.

SFA was very strong in the relays. The Ladyjacks 4X400-meter relay finished fifth overall with a time of 3:51.93, while the SFA men earned all-conference honors clocking a time of 3:11.60 to finish third overall. The Ladyjacks 4x100-meter relay team recorded a time of 46.53 to finish fifth overall, while the 'Jacks posted a 40.54 to finish fourth overall just missing all-conference honors. The mark was good enough to qualify for the NCAA regional championships.

Several other SFA athletes recorded strong performances Sunday afternoon. Senior Nikki Carr scored three points for SFA in the triple jump. Carr recorded a mark of 38-7.00 to finish sixth overall. Senior Katrina Roundtree finished seventh in the women's 400-meter dash. Roundtree posted a time of 56.69. Freshman Elliot Starcevich scored a point for SFA in the men's 1,500-meter run. Starcevich recorded a time of 3:57.76 to finish eighth overall.

The SFA men and women's team will return to the track Wednesday, May, 21, when they travel to Natchitoches, La., to compete in the NSU-NCAA Qualifier. The qualifier will be the team's final warm-up before the NCAA Regional Championships.

-SFA-