BOONE, N.C. (April 21) - With no one team capturing a bulk of the individual titles, the men's competition is a close race with VMI leading heading into the final day of competition at the 2000 Southern Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships. VMI boasts a 14-point advantage over second-place Appalachian State (53 points).
The Keydets claimed a pair of individual champions on the second day of competition. John Chisholm notched a hammer throw of 185' 2" to win the event. Kevin Solomon and fellow Keydet Marcus Lynch placed first and second in the long jump. Solomon's leap of 25' 0.5" took the top position, while Lynch garnered second with a jump of 24' 4.25".
The closest race of the day came in the 3,000 steeple chase where Furman's Timothy Briles came from behind to cross the tape four hundredths of a second ahead of ASU's Shane Austin to win the grueling event. Briles timed in at 9:25.81, while Austin notched a 9:25.85. Furman scored all 16 of its team points of the championships in the steeple chase, while Appalachian scored a school all-time best of five finishers.
The Citadel's Kris Kut outdistanced the field by approximately 15 feet to win the javelin toss. Kut, the top performer in the event prior to the championships, threw the javelin 196' 5".
The multi-event decathlon came to its conclusion with East Tennessee State's Andrew Whitson winning with a total score of 6,287 points. Whitson won four of the ten individual events for the decathlon crown. Appalachian State's Ben Yocum posted victories in two of the final three events to battle from the back of the pack for third.
Saturday's competition begins at 9:00 a.m. with the finals of the discus and continues throughout the day at Appalachian States Kidd Brewer Stadium.TEAM SCORES
1. Virginia Military Institute 67
2. Appalachian State 53
3. Western Carolina 50
4. East Tennessee State 24
5. The Citadel 16
6, Furman 16
7. Chattanooga 5
8. UNC Greensboro 3
