SFA Heads to Baton Rouge
1/26/2006 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Jan. 26, 2006
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin track and field teams will return to action Friday at the Bayou Bengal Invitational on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge, La. Competition for the men's pentathlon and women's heptathlon began Thursday afternoon and will conclude Friday. Field events begin Friday at 3 p.m., and the running events are set to start at 6 p.m. The meet will be held in the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse.
SFA opened the indoor season last weekend with a strong showing that saw three school records fall. Senior Crystal Chang and juniors Darwin Johnson and Ashley Monteau all broke school records at the Arkansas Razorback Invitational. Chang erased her own mark in the pentathlon with a score of 3,755 points, which was good enough to earn her the individual championship. Johnson also brought back an individual title, his coming in the weight throw. He bested the record he set last year with a throw of 59-05.50. Monteau took over the top spot in the women's 5,000-meter record book. She ran to a second-place finish with a time of 17:06.87.
After the first week of competition, the Lumberjacks own 17 marks that rank in the Top 10 among Southland Conference athletes. The list is topped by Johnson and seniors Marc Farris and Kenneth McKinley, each of whom has recorded the top mark in the conference in his respective event. Farris currently leads the way in the 5,000 meters following his first-place time of 14:51.41 at the Razorback Invitational. McKinley finished second at the Razorback Invitational with a throw of 56-01.25.
The Ladyjacks have also posted 17 Top 10 marks in their first week of action. Sophomore Audrey Azu's mark of 5-08.00 in the high jump leads the conference and is one of four Top 10 performances for the Ladyjacks in that event. Chang ranks third, sophomore Meghan Denman is tied for fourth, and junior Leah Matthews is tied for 10th. Monteau's performance in the 5,000 meters currently ranks second in the league.
Following the Bayou Bengal Invitational, SFA will head to Houston on Feb. 4 for the Hyatt Regency Invitational.
- SFA -
