April 4, 2008

Photo Gallery 

Florida Relays Day One Results

Gainesville, Fla. -

A slew of season-best times, including a pair of school records, highlighted Western Carolina's first day at the 2008 Pepsi Florida Relays in Gainesville, Fla. The Catamounts put together an impressive performance as a team in one of the nation's premier meets, with ten top-ten finishes, and Zeb Johnson's NCAA Regional qualifying mark in the 100-meter dash.

In the women's 400-meter dash, senior Raquel Ramseur ran the top time in her section, tripping the tape in 54.67 seconds, and finished 13^th overall in the event. Ramseur's time was the top mark on the team this year by over a second, and was a mere .06 seconds off of the NCAA Regional Qualifying time. Right behind her with a personal-best time of 56.17 seconds was teammate Shalyn McMichael, whose mark was good for runner up in her section and 30^th overall.

Senior Manteo Mitchell kicked off the sprints for the men by jumping out to the early lead in his section of the 400-meter dash, finishing fourth in both the section and overall, giving Western their first top-five finish of the day. His time of 46.68 seconds was the top time on the team this season, giving Mitchell the top three performances on the squad for the year.

Another impressive performance was turned in by WCU's Chris Gaillard, who won his flight in the men's long jump with a distance of 7.14 meters, which was good enough for an overall runner-up finish. It was the first mark of over seven meters by a Catamount long jumper this season. Fellow Western jumper Rashad Herndon also cracked the top-ten, finishing seventh overall with a distance of 6.90 meters.

In a 100-meter dash even that saw the nation's top time get set twice, junior Dominique Young impressed the crowd by winning his section in a time of 10.56 seconds, the second-best mark on the team this year, and .01 seconds off of a qualifying time. Senior Zeb Johnson turned in the team's top time with a mark of 10.49 seconds, qualifying him for the NCAA Regional Championships, and 15^th overall in the event.

Senior Kerrie Savery used a late-race push to get into fourth place in her section in the women's 800-meter run, and a top-ten finish overall. Right as the runners crossed the line to begin the last lap of the race, Savery made her move along the outside to pass a trio of competitors and held on for fourth. She finished with a time of 2:11.48, which was good for ninth place overall and was the top time by a Catamount runner this year by an astounding four seconds, breaking her own previous mark of 2:15.72, set last week at the WCU Invitational.

Western took a liking to the sixth place position in the men's pole vault competition, putting both their competitors in the same spot. Catamount teammates Mike O'Steen and Sean Reardon tied for sixth on the day with a top height of 4.50 meters, giving both men a spot on the top of the team leader board for the season.

Sophomore Cale McDaniel was the lone competitor in his flight of the men's discus event to complete a legal throw, giving his distance of 42.55 meters the top spot in his flight, and also good enough for sixth place overall in the meet.

WCU added more top-ten finishes in the men's shot put event, with senior Chris Page coming in sixth place with a distance of 14.50 meters, and freshman Patrick Morris throwing a career-best mark of 14.49 meters to finish in seventh.

Western Carolina got a good start in the 4x200-meter relay, with opening runner Sherrelle Fronberger handing off the baton in second place, and the second leg of Felicia Paulding passing Charleston Southern for the lead going into the final lap. Janet Carothers extended WCU's lead with her 200 meter leg, but Western was then passed by Charleston Southern in the last part of the anchor leg to finish in second in their heat. Their time of 1:36.72 was a new school record, breaking the old mark of 1:39.96 that was set back in 1995.

The first day of competition came to a close for the Catamounts with the men's 4x200-meter relay, with John Oros, Duke Craig, Jeff Reinke, and Kevin Johnson comprising the team for Western. Oros led off the race by putting the Cats in the early lead, with the team in third after Craig's leg. Western could not hold on in the late stages of the race, and finished in eighth in their heat in a time of 1:27.11.

The Catamounts will continue their action down in Gainesville on Saturday, April 5, with events running all day. Fans can follow live results by going to Florida Relays Live Scoring, or by checking CatamountSports.com for continous updates and results.