Saturday, February 23, 2002

Johnson City, Tenn. (Feb. 23, 2002) -- The East Tennessee State men's and women's track teams both finished fifth in the Southern Conference Indoor Championships, that concluded Saturday afternoon from Memorial Center in Johnson City. The men's team scored 25 points in today's action to finish with 53 for the meet. The best finisher of the day was freshman James Grufferty (Glanmire, Ireland) who won the 5000-meter run with a time of 14:50.98. Freshman Brad Yewer (Newbury, England) took third-place in the mile run with a time of 4:16.92. Sophomore Kaylin Chesney (Knoxville, Tenn.) also had a third-place finish, his coming after running an 8.09 in the 55-meter hurdles. The team of junior Jon Shaw (Roanoke, Va.), sophomore David Cabbler (Roanoke, Va.), freshman Lawrence Lockhart (St. Croix, Virgin Islands) and freshman Clint Davis (Gaffney, S.C.) finished fifth in the 4x400 meter relay, running a 3:25.15. The women's team tallied 42 points in Saturday's events, finishing with 52 for the meet. Senior Jennifer Howard (Knoxville, Tenn.) had a great day, finishing in the top-3 in two events. Howard won the 400-meter dash, running the event in 56.95. Howard also finished third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.04. Junior Roseline Addo (Newbury, England) finished second in the 800-meter dash, running the event in 2:13.02. Freshman Chantelle Vernon (Markham, Ontario) took second place in the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.05. The team of Addo, sophomore Tiffany Collier (Atlanta, Ga.), sophomore Natasha Peyton (Chesterfield, Va.) and freshman Nicola Cornish (Spartanburg, S.C.) finished second in the 4x400 meter relay after running a time of 3:51.82. Finally, sophomore Cheryl Howard (Wyalusing, Pa.) jumped 1.6 meters to finish in a tie for fourth in the high jump. Appalachian State took the crown on both the men's and women's sides of the championships, with their women tallying 139 points and their men scoring 138. This brings the indoor regular-season to a conclusion. The Bucs will have to wait to see if their NCAA provisional qualifiers, Vernon and junior Charvin Clark (Ellenwood, Ga.), will advance to the NCAA Indoor Championships, Mar. 8-9.