SFA Men & Women Tab SLC Runner-up Finishes
5/18/2004 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
May 18, 2004
SAN MARCOS, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin men and women's track and field teams wrapped a very successful performance at the 2004 Southland Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships Monday evening. The Lumberjacks scored a school-record 155 points to finish second at the meet. The Ladyjacks also finished second, scoring 125 points, which is the second-highest point total in SFA history.
The Lumberjacks were led by a dominating performance from their distance squad that scored a school-record 91 points in four events, had eight all-conference honorees and three SLC individual champions. Sophomore Julian Acuna got everything started Saturday night when he crossed the finish line first with a time of 30:47.97, just ahead of teammate Nathan Flores (30:48.01). Senior Justin Meier won the 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:53.20. Sophomore Chance Edwards was only 52 hundredths of a second off the pace to finish third in the event. Senior Mike Thompson won the 3,000-meter steeplechase with his regional qualifying time of 9:06.24. Flores finished second in the race with a time of 9:10.48. Sophomore Cody Clark finished second in the 5,000 meters with his time of 14:40.00, just ahead of Flores who recorded his third all-conference honor of the meet with his time of 14:50.98.
Other Lumberjacks that scored in the distance events were junior Clifton Tierney who finished fifth in the 1,500 meters with his time of 3:56.09. Freshman Eric Brill scored two points for SFA with his seventh-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Acuna finished fifth in the 5,000 meters (14:59.90) just ahead of Thompson (15:03.35) and sophomore Marc Farris (15:04.00). Farris just missed All-SLC honors in the 10,000 meters with his fourth-place finish (31:39.09). Sophomore Rodney Joseph scored three points for the Lumberjacks with his sixth-place finish (32:01.52) in the 10,000 meters. Junior Matt Albertson was only 6.41 seconds off Joseph's pace to finish seventh overall.
But the Lumberjacks didn't just rely on their distance squad to score points. Senior Paul Todd recorded an NCAA Regional qualifying mark when he won the high jump, clearing a height of 6-10.75. Freshman Wade Whittington made a huge statement in his first SLC Outdoor meet winning the conference title when he set a new school record with his throw of 211-10, improving on his NCAA Regional mark. Senior DeVaughn Rettig also made the most of his final SLC Championship meet, earning all-conference honors and setting NCAA Regional marks in both the long jump (24-1.00) and the triple jump (52-6.75). Rettig finished third in both events. Freshman Alex Harris scored points for SFA meter dash (10.62) and the 200-meter dash (21.26) as he finished seventh and sixth, respectively. Senior Alex Beckworth finished fifth in the 110-meter hurdles with his NCAA Regional mark of 14.23. Beckworth placed just ahead of teammate Reggie Lazenby who posted a time of 14.35 in the finals. Lazenby qualified for the NCAA Regionals with his time of 14.26 during the preliminaries. Beckworth also scored four points for SFA with his fifth-place showing in the long jump. Sophomore Michael Ludlow was the Lumberjacks top pole vaulter, finishing sixth with a vault of 14-11.00. Sophomore Kenneth McKinley finished fifth in the shot put with his toss of 52-10.25, while freshman Darwin Johnson scored two points in the discus with his seventh-place finish (160-08).
The Ladyjacks earned 11 All-SLC honors and won four individual titles led by junior Ana Rodriguez and freshman Ashley Monteau. Rodriguez won the 5,000 meters with her time of 17:11.54, outpacing Monteau by 6.72 seconds. Monteau came right back in the 10,000 meters winning the title with a school-record time of 36:14.14. Monteau finished just ahead of Rodriguez who crossed the finish line with a time of 36:38.81. Senior Vicky Jannise continued the Ladyjacks dominance in the distance events when she set a new school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Jannise crossed the finish line with a time of 10:55.06 to win the event and qualify for the NCAA Regional Championships. Jannise also scored two points for the Ladyjacks finishing seventh in the 5,000-meters with her time of 18:32.68. The Ladyjacks' other individual title came from junior Jocelyn Stevens who defended her title in the 400-meter hurdles. Stevens won the race with an NCAA Regional qualifying time of 1:00.33.
Senior Blake Gordon closed out her final SLC Championship meet with two good performances in the shot put and discus. Gordon earned all-conference honors in both events with NCAA Regional throws of 164-01 in the discus and 49-11.00 in the shot put. Classmate Jennifer Schreiner was equally as strong in the pole vault, finishing second overall clearing an NCAA Regional height of 12-3.50. Sophomore Crystal Chang also earned All-SLC honors in the heptathlon with her second place finish (4,848 points). Junior Lindsey Bryson finished sixth overall in the heptathlon, scoring 4,428 points. Sophomore Stevina Wyatt earned all-conference honors for the Ladyjacks posting an NCAA Regional time of 13.93 in the 100-meter hurdles. Wyatt outpaced Stevens by 16-hundredths of a second to finish third in the event. Wyatt also scored for SFA in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing seventh overall with a time of 1:07.98. Stevens also posted a fifth-place finish in the high jump along with teammate Teresa Murray to score seven points for SFA. Freshman Katrina Storrs scored three points for SFA in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with her sixth-place finish (11:24.06).
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