Eager Spartans Well Equipped For Conference Championships In Jacksonville
5/13/2009 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
May 13, 2009
SPARTANBURG, S.C.- The Upstate outdoor track and field program will journey to Hodges Stadium on the University of North Florida campus in Jacksonville, Fla., to compete in their second Atlantic Sun Conference Outdoor Championship on Friday and Saturday. The Spartans recently competed at the Clemson Orange & Purple Classic last weekend on May 8 and 9 to polish up their performances for conference.
"The Clemson meet gave us the last of what we needed as a final tune-up in terms of competition before conference," said Upstate head track and field coach Jimmy Stephens. "We're extremely excited to see what our athletes can do this weekend because they have come such a long way since last year's outdoor season. We're excited for the women, especially, who will be competing in the outdoor championships for the first time ever."
Conference action will begin on Friday, May 15, at 9 a.m. with the women's heptathlon, followed by the start of the men's decathlon at 9:30 a.m. The women's and men's 10,000m run will conclude Friday's events at 7:40 p.m. and 8:25 p.m., respectively. The championship will then resume on Saturday at 9 a.m. with the final events of the men's decathlon, followed by the final events of the women's heptathlon at 10 a.m. Saturday will then continue with many of the final heats, with the championship presentation scheduled for 9 p.m.
"This is the culmination of our training and competing since December," said Stephens. "The main goal of our program is to continue to improve. We have put ourselves in a valuable position to show that we can be a force in the Atlantic Sun."
In Friday's field action, sophomore Justin Crawford will look to garner back-to-back individual titles in the men's pole vault, as he took first-place at the indoor championships at ETSU back in February. Terry Squibbs and Graham Long will also compete in the pole vault. Sophomore Gabrielle Walker will compete in the long jump and triple jump. Perrish Goggins and Joseph Jiles will compete in the men's long jump and triple jump and will be joined by freshman Reggie Thompson in the long jump.
The Spartans will see Walker return to compete in the women's 100m dash on Friday evening. Walker set a school record in the 100m last weekend at the Clemson Orange & Purple Classic with a time of 12.87, and will be looking to improve upon that among the competition. Kathryn Neely will then see action in the women's 100m hurdles, followed by Reggie Thompson in the men's 110m hurdles. Neely will return on Saturday evening for the women's 400m hurdles and Michael Meissner will compete in the men's 400m hurdles.
The Spartans have seen exponential success with their throwers all-season long and will look to continue their triumphs at conference. On Friday, the men and women will compete in the shot put and hammer throw. The men will see Eric Chapman and Marc Wartenberger in the hammer throw, both of who have been battling for the team lead all season long. Kyle Wentzel will also join them in the hammer. On the women's side, LaTerrica Blocker will represent in the shot put, after just recently setting a new school record with a toss of 36-07/11.15m. Kayla Speed, who recently set the new school record in the hammer throw (133-02/40.59m) last weekend, will join Blocker in the hammer also.
To close action on Friday, Emily Tangwar and Jemeli Sang will take part in the women's 10k, followed by the men's 10k, who will see Matt Henderson, James Jackson and Brent Durden.
On Saturday evening, the women will see Kiah White and Adrienne Singletary competing in the 400m dash, with Mike Meissner sprinting in the men's 400m. Meissner ranks fifth in the conference of those competing in the event with a time of 50.24.
In the mid-distance events, the Spartans will see Emily Tangwar, Joan Tangwar and Caroline Chelulei in the women's 1500m event on Saturday night. Emily Tangwar is currently ranked third in the conference with a time of 4:40.06 and will look to contend with Heidi Dahl of ETSU and Alyssa Deal of Jacksonville for the top spot. Conrad Goeringer will then see action in the men's 1500m. Joan Tangwar will also return to action in the women's 800m as Joe Holzinger will take the stage in the men's 800m. Both will be running in the fast heat which will be a major advantage for the Spartans.
Emily Tangwar, Jemeli Sang, Joan Tangwar, Caroline Chelulei and Lauren Walker will all represent the women in the 5000m run. Both Tangwar sisters and Jemeli Sang all represent three of the top five fastest times entered. On the men's side, James Jackson, Matt Henderson and Brent Durden are scheduled to compete. Walker will also compete in the women's 3000m steeplechase as Goeringer will see action in the men's 3000m steeple.
Upstate will also have both teams competing in the 4X100m relay and 4X400m relay.
In field action on Saturday, Angie Varnum and Erin Tyre will compete in the women's high jump, with Goggins, Thompson, Jiles and Dakota Speed performing in the men's high jump. Goggins currently leads all conference competitors with a 2m mark in the high jump.
The throwers will return on Saturday to compete in the discus and javelin throw as Wentzel and Wartenberger will take part in the men's discus throw. Wentzel will also see action in the javelin throw, as he currently leads the team with a throw of 145-00/44.20m. Angie Varnum will contend for the women in the javelin throw, as she is currently ranked fifth among conference opponents competing with a throw of 27.66m.
Thompson will be the only Spartan competing in the men's decathlon on both Friday and Saturday.
"This is what it all comes down to and what we train all season for," said Upstate's distance coach Ed Schlichter. "This is the sum of all of our hard work and preparation. We're real excited to see the athletes put forth their best performances of the year. We expect many close match-ups and it will come down to who wants it more. I think our athletes are in a great position to capitalize on our good seed times and show what the USC Upstate program can do."
Last year, the Upstate men's program took seventh-place at the outdoor championships, while the Upstate women were unable to compete due to Division-I transitional restrictions. This year will be a different story. The Jacksonville women have won seven straight conference championships and will looked to be stopped this weekend. The Dolphins recently took the 2009 indoor crown with 171 points, 62 points ahead of the Kennesaw State women who took second with 109 points. Kennesaw State took the men's title last year with a total of 170 points.
Perrish Goggins led all competitors by 42 points in the men's decathlon after day one of competition last year with wins in the 100-meter hurdles and the high jump. He ended with a second-place finish to Elliot Haynie of Gardner-Webb. Goggins will return this weekend as a stronger, refreshed and more experienced athlete to help lead the Spartans.
"We're looking to really make the most of our hard work and training over the last few months," Stephens said. "Though we still have a long way to go as a team, we've definitely made clear progress in the right direction. We've really started to gel as a team over the past few months and we're excited to see what our athletes can do this weekend."
