Mountaineers win

track title
From staff reports

CULLOWHEE — Appalachian State’s men's track and field team led by 99 points after day one, and held on for a 315-288 win over second-place Western Carolina for the Mountaineers’ 16th Southern Conference Outdoor Championship.

It was the Mountaineers’ first championship since the 2005 season.

Phillip Bush won the Most Outstanding Freshman Award. Wes Kiser was named both the Most Outstanding Field Performer and the Most Outstanding Performer overall for having the most points in the competition.

Western Carolina’s Manteo Mitchell was named the top track performer.

Mountaineers coach John Weaver was named the men’s Coach of the Year. It is the seventh time he has won won the award for men's outdoor track, having won the award in 1996, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.

Kiser won three events, taking the hammer throw, the shot put and the discus. Kiser set a new SoCon record with a throw of 198-feet 11-inches in the hammer, as Appalachian State swept the top four spots in the event.

Grant Haun was second at 185-5, Timothy Daly third at 181-9 and Malcolm Styers finished fourth at 165-8.

Kiser also won the discus with a throw of 156-3. Three other Mountaineers — Styers, Haun and Jerod Gardner — finished fourth, fifth and eighth in the event.

Kiser won his third conference title of the meet as he finished first in the shot put with a throw of 51-5, 3/4.

Also on the field, freshman Ryan Twiford won the pole vault, while teammate Barron Shell finished second.

Appalachian State’s Joel Gaddy won the men's triple jump with a mark of 50-feet 11,1/2 inches. Mark Sturgis was right behind in second place at 49-6,1/2 and Ricky Harris was fourth at 46-43/4.

Mark Maddox won the steeplechase with a 9:24.37, while Ryan O'Keefe was third at 9:34.04.

In distance running, Appalachian swept the 10,000-meter run as Blair Teal won with a time of 32:13.86. He was followed by Asmeron Desta (32:14.52), Brian Deal (32:14.67) and Phillip Mitchell (32:25.33), who finished second, third and fourth.

Daniel Neal defended his outdoor SoCon title in the 110 meter hurdles, cruising to the victory in 14.50 seconds. Neal went on to place second in the 400-meter hurdles with a 53.98 and Sean Thompson was right behind in third at 55.89.

Deal won the 5000-meter run with a time of 14:45.38, and Mitchell was second at 14:52.32, while Desta was third at 14:56.67 for the sweep.

Women’s meet
CULLOWHEE — For the second straight year Appalachian State finished second in the Southern Conference Outdoor championships. The Mountaineers ended the meet with 189 points, while Western Carolina won the championship with 218 points.

Appalachian State got off to a fast start in the field events. Shea Snow vaulted 11-113/4 to capture the 2008 outdoor pole vault title. Last year, Snow was the runner-up in the event. Finishing tied for third place were Kaitlyn Heeke and Ashley Beale. Both vaulted 10-111/2.

Brittani Williams was named the meet’s Most Outstanding Field Performer and the Most Outstanding Performer overall for scoring the most points.

Williams won both the hammer throw and the discus.

Williams’ tossed the hammer 160-11 to win the event, while Adrianne Alexander threw 147-9 for fifth place
Williams took home her second championship of the meet in the discus with a toss 140-7 for a margin of victory of nearly three feet.

Lilly Tallent finished third in the javelin throw.

Danielle Thorpe, a sophomore, won the SoCon title in the triple jump with a jump 41-33/4. It was a season best for Thorpe and qualified her for NCAA Regionals.

Vonteena Knotts and Jessica Mayela also did well in the event as they grabbed the sixth and seventh place spots at 39-01/2.