May. 2, 2005

Cullowhee, N.C. - The Appalachian State Mountaineers swept both the men's and women's Southern Conference Championships which concluded Sunday afternoon at the new track & field complex on the campus of Western Carolina University. The Citadel's men's team tallied a fourth place finish while the women took ninth.

Appalachian State scored a Southern Conference record 292.5 to defeat the second-place Western Carolina Catamounts by 42.5 points, who scored 200 points on the second day to finish with 250.5. Chattanooga placed third (57), followed by The Citadel (48) and East Tennessee State. In the women's competition, ASU scored 207.5 points to defeat Georgia Southern (199) and Western Carolina (155), with Chattanooga and East Tennessee State rounding out the top five.

The fifth-consecutive title for the Mountaineer men sets the Southern Conference record with 15 all-time, surpassing VMI and North Carolina. Appalachian State's women have won 14 of the 19 championships ever contested in the conference and this year's crown is their fourth consecutive.

The SoCon's post-season awards, as voted upon by the conference's coaches, were announced following the final event. Western Carolina earned both Freshmen of the Year honors as Zeb Johnson and Raquel Ramseur were tabbed as the league's top rookies. WCU teammates Laura Tieszen and Mike Malone were also honored as Tieszen was named the women's Field Performer of the Year after scoring 29 total points on the weekend. Malone was named men's Track Performer of the Year and led all SoCon performers, amassing 36.5 points.

Appalachian field performer junior Anthony Greer earned the men's Field Performer of the Year honors, with Chattanooga's Shannon Wommack garnering the women's Track Performer of the Year award.

Head coach John Weaver of Appalachian State was selected by his peers as the men's track & field Coach of the Year, with Georgia Southern's Shaun Meinecke tabbed as the women's track & field Coach of the Year. Four Southern Conference records fell in Cullowhee, three on the women's side and an additional on the men's. Appalachian's Beverly Burnett and Anthony Greer each set records in the shot put and also qualified for the NCAA East Regional, with Nikole Simmons setting the record in the hammer throw. Wommack chipped off ten full seconds off her performance in the 3,000-meter steeplechase to improve on her own record from a year ago.

In addition to the records, seven regional qualifying marks were established during the championships. On Sunday, Jennifer Claud and Paula Moore of Appalachian State surpassed the minimum with her marks of 23.76 in the 200-meter dash and 12.37 meters in the triple jump, respectively.

In the relays, host Western Carolina claimed the top spot in the 4x100-meter with the team of freshman Zeb Johnson, Michael Malone, Darius Bryson, and James Gregory. The Catamounts passed the baton in a season-best time of 40.78. Appalachian State placed second, followed by Furman to complete the All-SoCon honors. The women's title was claimed by Georgia Southern, edging out second-place Appalachian State by six-one hundredths of a second. The Eagles' time was 46.32 while the Mountaineers finished with a mark of 46.38. East Tennessee State, who entered the weekend ranked fourth in the power rankings, placed third overall.

Chattanooga swept the top two finishing positions in the women's 1,500-meter run as junior Shannon Wommack repeated as individual champion, circuiting the new track facility with a time of 4:32.34. Her teammate, Kahtleen Turchin was second followed by Katie Sujkowski of Appalachian State in third. Western Carolina's Adam Puett edged Adam VanNortwick of Appalachian State in one of the closest finishes in the middle distance events to win the 1,500 meters. The margin if victory was seven one-thousandths of a second. Van Nortwick had another close call, finishing second in the 800-meter run to teammate Bryan Burney by .17 seconds. Burney captured the individual championship for the second-consecutive season.

Western Carolina's Michael Malone opened up the finals in the sprint events taking first place in the men's 100-meter dash, with ASU's Chris Martin second and The Citadel's Quintin Wright finishing third. Malone also won the men's 110-meter hurdles and the men's 200-meter dash, finishing the latter with a SoCon seasonal best mark of 21.25.

The day began as Western Carolina's Laura Tieszen claimed her second individual championship of the meet. The senior earned the most points by winning the heptathlon javelin throw to secure the title. Tonya Grimes of Georgia Southern was second, with Kristie Boggan, who was second entering the final event (800-meter run) finished third to round out the all-conference honors in the heptathlon.

The Catamounts also claimed two of the top three finishing positions in the women's high jump competition as Brittany Whitaker. East Tennessee State equaled Western's performance on the men's side as Michael Estes and Brett Snoderly took first and third, with WCU's Lawrence Briscoe in second. Estes' winning height was a SoCon season best 1.98 meters (6-6.0).

In the distance events, Chattanooga's Steve Kocsis claimed the clean collegiate sweep, winning the 5,000-meter for the fourth-consecutive season. Joe Halin from Appalachian State and UTC's Collin Sullivan rounded out the all-conference selections. Moc teammates Kathleen Turchin and Shannon Wommack ran one-two in the women's 5,000-meter race.