April 5, 2008

2008 Florida Relays Final Results

Photo Gallery

Gainesville, Fla. - The Western Carolina Track & Field teams continued their impressive performances in day two of the Pepsi Florida Relays on Saturday, bringing home four podium finishes and a new school record before the meet was brought to a wet end, with rain putting a halt and canceling the final four events.

For the weekend, WCU recorded 14 regional-qualifying marks, almost doubling their total amount coming into the meet. The Cats also had 13 top-tens in Saturday's events alone, finishing with 23 overall in the two-day competition.

Sophomore Chris Gaillard gave Western its first podium finish of the second day in the men's triple jump, when he cleared a top height of 14.04 meters to come in second place overall. His jump was a personal best for Gaillard, and also the first time he jumped over 14 meters.

Breaking school records has become a familiar feat this season for sophomore Matt Evans, who shattered another mark in the men's javelin throw, with a distance of 66.66 meters. He already broke the previous school record in the event at the Charlotte 49er Classic with a toss of 63.05 meters, which he surpassed on his first throw of the day. He came in second place overall in the event, behind only the reigning NCAA National Champion from the University of Florida. Senior David Bowles, who is coming off a recent injury, set a new personal best with a throw of 56.28 meters.

In the women's 4x100-meter relay, the WCU "B" team ran away with their section courtesy of a dominant third-leg by Melissa Berry, who started her leg in third, and by the end of her first 50 meters, was in the lead. Berry then handed the baton to Aneesha Lane, who held onto the lead for the win, in a time of 48.34 seconds. The Western Carolina "A" team of Tangelia Johnson, Felicia Paulding, Janet Carothers, and Raquel Ramseur took fifth place in their section and 13th overall with a time of 46.80 seconds, with the "B" team's time putting them in 24th overall.

The men's 4x100-meter relay was full of fireworks as well. The WCU "A" team, running in a heat that included five professional teams and the national team from the Bahamas, took fourth place in their section and fifth place overall with a season-best time of 40.20 seconds. The team of Manteo Mitchell, Zeb Johnson, John Oros, and Dominique Young were neck-and-neck with the leaders throughout the race, and finished with an NCAA regional qualifying mark, the second for Western this year.

Tia Jones broke the 12-meter mark for the first time this season in the women's triple jump event, taking home a third-place finish overall with a distance of 12.11 meters. Jones was at a disadvantage during her attempts in the event, in which she had a mere 1.5 mile-per-hour wind to assist her, where as the two competitors who finished ahead of her each had a wind of over 3.2 miles per hour at their back, but only jumped .26 meters in front of WCU's Jones.

The Catamounts turned in two impressive performances in the men's high jump on Saturday. In the "B" section, junior Rashad Herdon cleared a best-height of 1.85 meters to come away with ninth-place overall in his section. Later in the day, Evans, fresh off his record-breaking outing in the javelin throw, finished ninth in the "A" section of the event, with a height of 2.05 meters.

WCU took home a pair of twin-tenth-place finishes in the women's pole vault event, with Melissa Cabe and Kassie McKie both achieving a maximum height of 3.20 meters, which gives both women possession of the top mark on the squad this season.

The women's 4x800 one was of the Catamounts' best performances on the track in the day, with the team in the hunt for the win from the onset. Opening leg Kerrie Savery jumped out to the early lead, withstanding a late push from a runner from University of Tennessee, handing the baton to second leg Megan Isaacs in second place. Isaacs maintained the top-three holding throughout her portion of the race, ending in third place. Next up was Jordan Gaddy, who used her time with the stick to close in on the second-place Villanova runner, with Western beginning the anchor leg in fourth place. Annie Bailey retook third place early in her first of two laps around the track, and cruised to a final third-place finish for the Catamounts, ending with a time of 9:08.96.

The men's 4x800-meter relay team began the second leg in third place as well, after a strong first 800-meters by Aaron Grant, who then handed off to Drew Tucker. Tucker kept pace with the lead pack throughout his section of the race, maintaining the Cat's third-place spot going into the third leg. Dylan Hermelee then took over, closing his portion in fourth for anchor runner Jestin Jennings, who closed out the fourth position in a final time of 7:43.11.

In the final event to be completed before competition was halted due to a line of strong thunderstorms that moved into the area, the 200-meter Invitational race included five Catamount runners, who were invited to participate thanks to previous scores.

In the women's 200-meters, senior Raquel Ramseur competed in the first section, which was filled with some of the top runners in the nation. Ramseur responded by running a time of 23.43 seconds, which was good for third place in her section and overall. Fellow Catamount Felicia Paulding brought home a fourth place finish in the third section, tripping the tape in 25.11 seconds, which put her in 20th place overall.

On the men's side, Western brought home three top-15 spots, with Young topping the Catamount contingent with a seventh place finish, crossing the line in an NCAA regional-qualifying 21.07 seconds. Zeb Johnson provided a highlight in the third heat, with his wire-to-wire victory in the section, with a time of 21.20 seconds. Mitchell also finished in the top-ten, coming home with a ninth place spot, in 21.15 seconds.

The meet was brought to a sudden halt during the high school girl's 3,200-meter run when a mid-afternoon storm rolled in and rain began to fall, sending spectators and participants scrambling for the exits and seeking shelter under the stadium bleachers. After a 90-minute delay and with forecasts predicting no end in sight to the rain, officials cancelled the remainder of the events, ending the 2008 Florida Relays.

Next week, Western will return to site of their 2008 SoCon indoor championships when they compete in the Solid Orange Classic in Clemson, S.C. The Meet will run all day on Saturday, April 12 at the Rock Norman Track & Field Complex on the Campus of Clemson University.