Women's Outdoor Track and Field Southern Conference

Appalachian Track Teams Sets Two Records

BOONE, N.C. - Members from both the Mountaineer men's and women's track and field squads competed in the Georgia Tech Invitational at the Griffin Track on Saturday. It was their last chance to qualify for the 2004 NCAA Regionals.

Appalachian added one new regional qualifier and set two new school records while in Atlanta. The Southern Conference champion men's and women's program now lists nine Mountaineer each traveling to the University of Florida for the East Regional competition on May 28-29.

Competing in the hammer throw, sophomore Crystal Miller, Soph, slung the weight 176-feet. 5-inches to become the ninth women's team member to qualify for regionals.

Fellow sophomore Beverly Burnett heaved the shot put 49-feet, 1.5-inches to break the Appalachian's program record. The former mark was 48 feet. Burnett's record toss was good for fifth in the event and moved her up in the rankings in the East Regional.

Senior sprinter Ernest Wiggins paced the field in the 100-meter dash with a clocking of 10.2 seconds.

Having already set the school record in the event earlier this season at 10.22 seconds, Wiggins bettered the time by two hundredths of a second. His winning time was not only the fastest of the event, but also catapulted Wiggins into the No. 1 spot in the East.

The top five competitors in each event at the regionals will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA National Championships, hostd by University of Texas, on June 9-12.

Between 26-28 student-athletes will be invited to compete in each event at the NCAA Championships. Following the distribution of automatic bids, six to eight at-large bids will be distributed based on the remaining student-athletes on the national descending order list.

Mountaineer women competing are listed as follows:

Beverly Burnett (So) Burlington, N.C. shot put
Jeniifer Claud (Jr) Greensboro, N.C. 200-meter dash, 100-meter dash, 4 x 100m relay, triple jump Suzanne Makinson (Sr) Franklin, N.C. pole vault Crystal Miller (Fr) Kings Mountain, N.C. hammer throw Paula Moore (Jr) Graham, N.C. triple jump Christina Roberts (Jr) Washington, D.C. 100-meter dash, 4 x 100m relay Portia Taylor (Jr) Fayetteville, N.C. 4 x 100m relay Ronda White (Sr.) Charlotte, N.C. 100m hurdles, triple jump, long jump and 4 x 100m relay Tondra White (Sr) Charlotte, N.C. triple jump

The men are as follows:
Bryan Burney (Fr) Mebane, N.C. 800-meter run, 4 x 400m relay Keith Curry (Sr) Lexington, N.C. 4 x 400m relay Will Gillespie (Sr) Mebane, N.C. 4 x 400m relay Anthony Greer (So) Wilmington, N.C. shot put Sean Jackson (Sr) Garner, N.C. 4 x 100m relay Chris Martin (Jr) Charlotte, N.C. 200-meter dash, 4 x 100m relay, 4 x 400m relay
Bob Smith (Jr) Custer, S.D. shot put, discus, hammer throw Charles White (Fr) Providence, N.C. 4 x 100m relay Ernest Wiggins (Sr) China Grove, N.C. 100-meter dash, 4 x 100m relay