Women's Track Slips To Third At SBC Championships
5/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field/XC
The Mean Green women fell to third place in the meet’s final day, finishing with 102.50 championships points.
The Mean Green men finished sixth with 84 points.
Aside from hauling in six individual conference titles this weekend, The Mean Green also brings home a pair of awards. Brandi Stanfield was voted the Sun Belt’s Freshman of the year for her second-place performance in the long jump.
Heptathlon champion and high jump runner-up Deidra Wesley also earned Women Most Outstanding Field Performer. Wesley picked up the ninth all-conference nod of her distinguished career yesterday.
Heath Smith bettered his own school javelin record by nearly four feet, bringing home his first individual conference championship. The junior’s toss of 196 feet was just short of the NCAA Midwest Regional qualifying mark, but gives him three of the top six throws in school history.
Mark Lee managed a victory in the high jump with his leap of 6-feet-8-/34-inches. The junior, who also took the indoor high jump crown, earns his second outdoor all-conference nod.
The men’s sprint relay team of David Schwein, Ryan Roberson, Brandon Irabor and Johnny Quinn nearly repeated as Sun Belt champions, but was nudged at the line by Middle Tennessee. The Mean Green 4x100-meter relay finished second with a regional qualifying time of 40.30, nine-thousandths of a second faster than last year’s conference winning time.
The Mean Green men and women finished well in the 400-meter dash. Schwein, a two-time all-conference member, earned place with a time of 48.00, while Chi Chi Echebelem crossed the line fourth in 55.16, a second faster than the top
Arraine McWhinney and Wesley also notched a back-to-back finish in the 100-meter hurdles final. McWhinney, a sophomore, finished fourth with a time of 14.71. The senior finished fifth in 15.27.
The Mean Green qualifiers will now head to the NCAA Regionals on May 26-27. The