Fresh off of a top three finish for both the men and women in the Southern Conference Championships, Western held the WCU Track and Field Invitational Saturday, March 17.
The Catamounts competed against Southern Conference foes such as East Tennessee State, Wofford, Furman, and the Citadel as well as a number of other non-conference squads.
The women picked up first place finishes in 13 of the 19 events, while the men won six of their 15 events.
Virginia LaCombe, Ashley Herendon, and Ronetta Burgess led the way for the Lady Catamounts as they were the only players to win two individual events.
LaCombe picked up her first victory in the 400-meter low hurdles, skipping her way to a time of 1:04.39. She also topped the competition in the high jump, rising over a height of 1.74m.
Meanwhile Herendon won two different throwing events. She first took the javelin competition with a heave of 40.10m and was also able to triumph in the discuss with a length of 39.19m. Barbara Lee Palmer was also able to take first in another throwing event, the hammer throw, with a 40.82m launch.
The most dominant event for the Lady Cats proved to be the 200-meter dash, where they captured the top four sports. Burgess beat out her teammates for first with a time of 25.28. Burgess also led the way in the 100-meter low hurdles, clocking in at 16.11.
Benetta Boyd, who placed second in the 200-meter, beat out fellow Lady Cat Cedra Bowden to win the 100-meter dash in just 12.39. Shavon Neely closed out the individual running victories with a 59.49 clip in the 400-meter dash.
The Lady Cats also experienced success in the relay events. They took first in the 4×100-meter relay with a time of 47.71, while their ‘B’ team finished a second behind in the runner-up position. The time of 4:03.30 also proved strong enough to top the field in the 4×400-meter relay.
Caleb Bailey led the way on the men’s side picking up two of the squad’s six top finishes. He won the 800-meter run by more than a second with a time of 1:57.44 while he outlasted the rest of the runners in the 1500-meter finishing in 4:03.94.
Tim Vaught was the only other Cat to win an individual running event. He captured the 400-meter dash in 49.05. At the same time, Western’s 4×100-meter relay team took top honors after finishing in 41.97.
The field events saw more Catamounts succeed as they had the top two positions in both the pole vault and long jump. Charles Rice beat out teammate Saejae Hartness in the pole vault with a jump of 4.60-meters. Meanwhile, Doug Petway topped Justin Davis to win the long jump after leaping 6.74m.
Next up for the WCU track & field squad is a visit to Clemson for the third time this season. They will compete in the Clemson relays this Saturday.
