May 1, 2004

BOONE, NC- - Day One of the 2004 Southern Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships began with rain showers, but finished under sunny skies with Appalachian State University's women's team leading the charge at their home facility, while Western Carolina's men are pacing the field after the first day. Appalachian's women are carrying a hefty 29-point lead and WCU's men own a narrow 12-point edge on ASU after the first day of competition.

In women's action, Chattanooga's Kathleen Turchin cruised to the win in the 10,000-meter run. The Moc rookie was nearly two minutes faster than her nearest competitor en route to her first SoCon title. The Mountaineer's Kelly Rosborough finished second, while the Catamounts' Melanie Cooper placed third.

Shannon Wommack, who boasted three titles at the SoCon indoor championships, shattered the league record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a clocking of 10:45.65. Teammate Lanni Marchant topped her SoCon record of a year ago, but was nearly 30 seconds behind Wommack's NCAA regional qualifying time. Katie Poole of Furman was also better than the previous SoCon record, but finished third. Laura Tieszen and Suzanne Makinson put on a show in the women's pole vault with a pair of NCAA regional qualifying efforts. Tieszen won the event and set a new SoCon all-time best by clearing the bar at 13-feet, 1.5-inches. Makinson fell short of the winning mark and took second at 12-feet, 4-inches.

College of Charleston's Chakosha Lance set a new SoCon mark in the hammer throw with a winning toss of 177-feet, 11-inches. ASU's Crystal Miller finished second in the hammer throw, but also eclipsed the regional qualifying mark, at 172-feet, 10-inches.

Georgia Southern's Lindy Petteway hurled the javelin 132-feet, 9-inches to claim the championship. Tieszen, the pole vault winner, finished second in the event.

Appalachian's Ronda White won the long jump with a regional qualifying mark of 20-feet, 1.5-inches, almost one foot farther than the second-place finisher. In one of many preliminary races, the Mountaineers' Jennifer Claud was the fastest in the 100-meter dash, qualifying for Sunday's finals with a regional qualifying clocking of 11.72 seconds.

On the men's side, the Mountaineers' Ernest Wiggins, coasted across the line in his 100m prelim with a regional qualifying time of 10.35 seconds. The Catamounts' Tee Alford also qualified for the regional meet at 10.42 seconds.

Chattanooga's Steven Kocsis matched his female UTC counterpart by winning the men's 10,000m crown. Kocsis was seven seconds better than second-place Kevin Crosby of Furman, at 32:03 seconds. Linas Salkauskas topped Moc teammate Ian Mayne in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:22.87.

Western Carolina's Wes Willoughby won the pole vault with a final mark of 15-feet even. Appalachian's Jeff Fiorello finished second, while teammate Joe Irvin and WCU's Christian Benson shared third with matching performances of 13-feet, 11.75-inches.

ASU's Bob Smith claimed the championship in the hammer throw with a regional qualifying effort of 190-feet, 3-inches. WCU's Xavier Godard came up with the winning the long jump (23-feet, 11.5 inches), just 1.5 inches shy of the regional qualifying standard. Fellow Catamount Josh Lee claimed the javelin title with a winning toss of 190-feet, 6-inches.

Sunday's competition begins with the decathlon and heptathlon events getting underway at 8:30 a.m. The field events get into full swing at 12:30 p.m. and the running events get started at 1:30 p.m. with the 4x100m relay.

Women - Team Scoring- 6 Events Scored 1) Appalachian State 692) Western Carolina 403) Georgia Southern 384) Chattanooga 365) Coll. of Charleston 146) Wofford 117) Davidson 78) Furman 69) Citadel 59) UNC Greensboro 511) Elon 3

Men - Team Scoring- 6 Events Scored1) Western Carolina 82.52) Appalachian State 70.53) Chattanooga 344) Furman 165) Citadel 106) Wofford 87) East Tenn. State 78) UNC Greensboro 59) Davidson 1