Kats ready for Southland Outdoor Meet
5/10/2011 11:24:00 AM | Track & Field
Head coach Dave Self and his staff believe both the men's and women's squads can be in the hunt for top honors in this year's event.
"It all comes down to how you perform on the day of the meet, but if we do things right we have some young men and women who can put up some points for us," Self said. "The men's team finished third at indoors this winter and we always are a better team outdoors than indoors. On the women's side, we have a lot of young faces in the mix and we're looking forward to seeing what they can do."
Several Bearkat men stand among the leaders in the Southland in their events this year.
Senior Chris Cralle holds the best mark in the hammer with a toss of 224' 0"at the Stephen F. Austin meet.
A. J. Edwards owns the top long jump mark in the league going 26' 7.75" at the Michael Johnson Classic in Baylor. Edwards also ranks third in the triple jump at 51' 3.5".
D. J. Hayes stands second in the 400 meter dash (46.84) and fourth in the 200 meters (21.17) this year.
Hurdlers Scottie Jones and Jay Newman stand third in the Southland this spring with respective marks of 14.14 in the 110 meter hurdles and 52.18 in the 400 meter hurdles.
Jacob Shultz owns the league's third best shot put (57' 7") and discus (168' 7"). The men's 4x400 meter relay stands third in the Southland with a time of 3:10.17.
"Chris in the hammer, A. J. in the triple and long jump and D. J. in the 200 and 400 certainly can score some points for us," Self said. "We're also planning to enter decathlete Matt Johnson in individual events like the hurdles, long jump and sprint relay, where we can pick us up valuable points. You have to get it done this weekend, but we have people capable of scoring in multiple events."
Sam Houston definitely has a youth movement going on the women's side where several freshman and sophomores look to make their marks.
Sophomore Sabrina Starr stands third in the 100 hurdles (13.84), freshman Lygia Foreman owns the conference's fourth best 400 meter dash (55.82) and freshman Sunday Foster is fourth in the long jump rankings (19' 3.25").
Veterans like juniors Ambra McCuin and Morgan Davis and seniors Christina Webb and Jessica Fisher also look to produce strong finishes for the Bearkat women. McCuin owns the league's top mark in the triple jump with her 41' 9.75" performance at the Northwestern State Invitational. Davis owns the second best heptathlon score in the Southland with her 4,934 point total at the Angelo State meet. Webb ranks in the weight throws while Fisher provides experience and leadership in the sprints and relays.
"Our assistant coaches Jesse Parker, Keith Herston, Clint Blinka and Jon Tipton have done a tremendous job developing this team," Self said. "We taking a lot of talented youngsters with us to the meet in Northwestern State this weekend. The future for the program definitely is bright."
