The past month has been an exciting time for Western Carolina’s Track & Field program. Among the many occurrences has been a SoCon championship for the men, a third-place finish in the conference for the women, and finally junior women’s standout Asia Davis finished 25th in the nation in the 400-meter hurdles. Starting off with the SoCon Championships, the men brought another honor to the WCU athletics program as they swept the Indoor and Outdoor championships this year. Western finished with 258.5 points beating defending champion and hated-rival App State by 14 points. On the women’s side, ASU won their fifth-straight title with 197.5 points to beat out Georgia Southern by 15 and WCU by 144 points. This is Western’s first men’s outdoor championship since 1999, when they also swept indoor and outdoor. The Catamounts were carried by seven individual titles and 18 podium finishes. Senior Adam Puett won SoCon Men’s Track Performer of the Year after winning his third-straight 1,500-meter run title, finishing third in the 800-meter run, and fourth in the 5,000-meter run. Coach Danny Williamson also won his Coach of the Year, making it the 20th conference coaching honor he has received in his illustrious career. “It’s not easy to win the conference championship during both indoor and outdoor seasons, but today is a testament to the hard work that our student-athletes put in year round,” said Williamson. Among the seven titles captured by Catamount men were Zeb Johnson’s 100 and 200-meter wins, Manteo Mitchell’s 400-meter win, Mike Malone’s 400-meter hurdles victory. Johnson, Malone, Kevin Johnson, and Milton Bolton won the 4×100 meter relay, while Bolton, Mitchell, Malone, and James Gregory won the 4×400-meter relay. The Cats swept the three sprinting events as they took first-through-third in each event. While the Catamount men were the brightest spot on that weekend, the women didn’t do too shabby, and in the end, a lady cat would end up with the last laugh among Catamount Track & Field athletes. The Catamount women won six championships and had 11 podium finishes. Among the six titles were sophomore Tangelia Johnson’s 100 and 200-meter wins, Raquel Ramseur’s 400-meter victory, and Jessika Johnson’s high jump championship. The 4×400 meter relay championship also went to the women catamounts as Ramseur, Tangelia, Aneesha Lane and Asia Davis composed the team. The final champion was Asia Davis in the 400-meter hurdles. Davis, a junior, finished with a conference record in preliminaries before winning the finals. A Charlotte, NC native, Davis would finish 25th in the nation a couple of weeks later. Davis ran a 1:01.15 to finish 25 of 28 in the competition. Josanne Lucas of Auburn won the 400-meter hurdle championship. The finish wrapped up what has been a great year for Davis and the Western Carolina Track & Field teams.
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Saturday, April 20, 2024
