JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (April 16, 2011) - Bringing top conference marks into their respective 100-meter dashes yesterday, two ETSU sprinters posted top qualifying times at the Atlantic Sun Outdoor Track & Field Championships yesterday.
Providing an early spark for the men's team, sprinter Ifrish Alberg (Paramaribo, Suriname) overtook A-Sun Indoor MVP Diego Lawrence of Campbell by a fraction of a second, posting a 10.44 mark in the 100-meter dash preliminary, just two-hundredths of a second behind his earlier conference best. Meanwhile, Emani Harrison (Columbia, S.C.) followed suit on the women's side, blazing her way to the top qualifying spot in the 100 with a time of 11.91, one-hundredth of a second faster than North Florida's Jasmine Jackson.
Among several other men in the hunt for a repeat of this year's A-Sun indoor title, Jarrod Burton (Bastian, Va.) scored eight of the 12 Buccaneer points in the hammer throw, taking second with a heave of 169-07 (51.68m). His brother Justin Burton (Bastian, Va.) finished sixth with his effort of 151-03 (46.10m), while Matt Allison (Fairfax, Va.) landed in eighth with a 121-05 (37.01m) throw. While Allison and Cornell Sneed (Miami, Fla.) combined for another six points in the shot put, Justin Burton earned six all by himself with a third-place 48-11.50 (14.92m) shot. Sneed finished just behind Burton at 46-07.50 (14.21m), while Allison's shot touched down at 39-11.50 (12.18m). Rounding out the men's field events, Alex Hodge (Dandridge, Tenn.) notched a point in the pole vault with an eighth-place 13-01.50 (4.00m) mark.
Showing in the hurdles, Mike James (Palm Bay, Fla.) sits in third place going into the finals after running the 110-meter in 14.19, while Kennesaw State's Kendall Parks set a meet and facility record of 13.76 to win it. Jeremiah Foster (Sevierville, Tenn.) snuck into the top-ten in the 110 at 16.03. In horizontals, ETSU placed three in the top ten but only one athlete scored, as Michael Lockhart (Dandridge, Tenn.) took fourth at 22-07.75 (6.90m). Finally, in the longest single event of the day, senior distance runner Ben Ronoh (Sotik, Kenya) also tracked down five points in the 10,000-meter run with a fourth-place time of 31:27.27.
Halfway through the men's decathlon, three Buccaneers remain within striking distance, as Foster went for second in the 100-meter dash at 11.23, fifth in the long jump with a mark of 19-09.00 (6.02m), and fourth in the 400-meter dash in 53.41. Foster sits in sixth place overall after one day with a Buc-best 2,831 points, with Matt Baum (Middletown, Md.) at 2,601 and Briar Pierce (Crossville, Tenn.) at 2,309.
On the women's side, Leah Oakhill (Brisbane, Australia) is poised for a solid final day in the heptathlon, as a top mark in the high jump and a third in the shot put helped her get to third overall with 2,635 points.
One of two top-ten finishers in the long jump, Kelly Monteleone (Verona, Pa.) grabbed two points for the blue and gold with her 17-04.25 (5.29m) mark, while Lexie Burley (Johnson City, Tenn.) finished ninth, in the top ten but out of the points, at 17-04.00 (5.28m).
Just as Matt did on the men's side Lili Allison (Oxford, Ala.) represented well on the women's side of the field events, posting a second-place 162-11 (49.65m) in the hammer throw and a fifth-place 41-08.00 (12.70m) in the shot put, totaling 12 points. Jasmine Foster (Johnson City, Tenn.) added three more points in the shot put, landing just behind Allison in sixth at 41-06.00 (12.65m).
After five events at Hodges Stadium, ETSU's men sit in second place with 35 points, five ahead of Belmont and 25 behind defending champion Kennesaw State, while the women posted 17 points to finish the day in fourth place, 21 points behind reigning indoor champion Jacksonville.
Final events begin today at 9 a.m., running all day and into the night until the 4x400-meter relays cap off the excitement at about 8:45 p.m., with a championship ceremony to follow.
To follow the events live, visit cfpitiming.com, or visit atlanticsun.org for more championship news, updates and photos. For more on ETSU Track & Field, visit ETSUBucs.com.
