East Tennessean

Issue date: 2/23/09 Section: Sports

The ETSU men's track and field team celebrates winning the Atlantic Sun Conference championship. The men's team has won three conference titles in the four years ETSU has been in the A-Sun. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Travis Brown During the Niswonger Invitational on Jan. 31, five Buccaneer athletes claimed titles. [Click to enlarge]

The Buccaneer quest for a three-peat is still intact after the ETSU men's track and field team won the 2009 Atlantic Sun Indoor Conference Championship on Saturday inside Memorial Center.
In November, the ETSU men's cross country team hoisted the conference crown trophy in Macon, Ga., and now on the David E. Walker track on Saturday, the Bucs kept their chance for a three-peat alive heading into the outdoor season. ETSU held off the reigning champions Kennesaw State for the team title by 20.5 points.
Since joining the Atlantic Sun Conference back in 2005-06, ETSU has won three indoor titles on the men's side, and in total, head coach David E. Walker has guided the Bucs to five indoor conference crowns.
In total, nine Buccaneer athletes on the men's side won conference championships - including sophomore distance runner Ben Ronoh sweeping the 3,000 and 5,000 events en route to a Most Outstanding Track Performer honors.
As a team, ETSU scored a conference record 172 points and held off a late charge by the Owls, who finished with 151.5 points.
"We knew Kennesaw State was going to come at us hard," said associate head coach Michelle Byrne. "When (Kennesaw) took the lead, we convened as a group and told the guys to keep their focus. What it came down to is the guys came through in the end."
The Buccaneer men started out the morning well on Saturday, as a trio of ETSU athletes won gold in their respective events.
With the Bucs entering the final day with a 30-point advantage over Kennesaw State, ETSU was able to extend its lead over Kennesaw State by 40 points - 104 to 64.
Nic Chernikow and fellow junior Jordan Briggs had a big hand in widening the Buccaneer lead, as Chernikow won the heptathlon and Briggs posted a third-place finish. Chernikow - who entered the final three events 182 points behind Kennesaw State's Casey Strickland - rallied past the field to post an A-Sun and ETSU record with 4,820 points. Briggs fought hard to make the podium as he entered the day in fifth, and walked away with a bronze medal after ending with 4,273 points.
After winning the shot put on Friday, junior Jarrod Burton was competing with Josh McNair from Kennesaw State for a new conference record. With the title on the line, Burton stepped up with a record-breaking toss of 61-00.75 (18.61 meters), which broke his previous conference best of 57-10.25 (17.63). Burton set that mark as a freshman back in 2007 and beat out McNair in 2009 by almost seven inches (60-07.25).
Then, after Burton finished his work, Josh Cloyd made it a clean Buccaneer sweep in the horizontal jumps. Fresh off his win yesterday in the long jump, the senior leaper posted a first-place mark of 47-02.25 (14.38) in the triple.
Later in day Kennesaw State started making its move, and after the men's 800-meter, the Owls took the lead for the first time (after 14 scored events).
The Owls scored 18 points in the event and led the Bucs 140.50 to 131 with only three events remaining.
ETSU's rally started with Quentin Greenlee's and Duronal Monal's performances in the 200. Greenlee tied a conference record with a top time of 21.61, while Monal finished with a mark of 21.88.
Then, with the Bucs leading Kennesaw by 9.5 points, Ronoh and his cousin Kenneth Rotich solidified the championship by finishing first and second, respectively, in the 5,000. Ronoh set a conference time with a mark of 14 minutes, 48.84 seconds, while Rotich followed right behind with 14:50.48.
In the afternoon events, sophomore Mike James gave the Bucs a lift in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles. James finished second behind Campbell's Adoniss Jones with a time 8.24.
Prior to his second-place finish in the 200, Monal flew his way to a gold medal in the 60. Monal crossed the line with a top mark of 6.87 - earning 10 points for the Bucs.
On the women's side, seniors Heidi Dahl and Judy Johnson each won conference championships and both ran in ETSU's 4-by-400 meter relay championship as well.
The performances helped guide the Lady Bucs to a third-place finish by scoring 84 total points. In the end, Jacksonville claimed its fourth straight indoor title (171 points) after shrugging off a tough and upcoming Kennesaw State squad (109 points).
"We absolutely performed as well as we were capable of on the women's side," said Byrne. "The third-place finish is a huge improvement from last season."
Dahl continued to impress in the mile. Dahl - who was shooting for an automatic mark to the NCAA Championships - fell just short by finishing with a time of 4:39.39. The Orem, Utah native managed not only to break her previous school record but also set a new conference record as well.
In the sprints, Johnson accounted for 18 points after finishing first in the 200 and second in the 60. Fellow senior Nae-Nae Bailey scored two points in the 60 and four in the 200. Bailey finished with a mark of 7.64 in the 60 and 24.56 in the 200.
The Lady Bucs went four-five in the 800, with the sophomore combo of Hannah Audia and Ashton Bishop coming through in the event. Audia placed fourth with a time 2:20.80 and Bishop posted a mark of 2:21.29. ETSU capped off the final event of the day by claiming the 4-by-400 meter relay crown with a conference record time of 3:46.38.
A few Buccaneer athletes will continue their indoor season by competing at the Virginia Tech Last Meet in Blacksburg, Va. on March 7.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools