Bucs look to build off of a pair of top-three team finishes last season

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (May 15, 2014) – After a week off from competition last week, the ETSU track & field program will compete in the 2014 Atlantic Sun Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Friday – Saturday, at Hodges Stadium on the University of North Florida campus.

Action at the Championships will kick off on Friday with women’s and men’s heptathlon and decathlon events beginning at 9 a.m. Field events will continue throughout the day before track competition commences at 7 p.m. with the women’s and men’s 3000 meter steeplechase. Competition on Friday will then wrap up with the men’s 10,000 meter run at 8:55 p.m.

The Championships will pick back up on Saturday morning, again, with heptathlon and decathlon events at 9 a.m. A mixture of field and track competition will progress throughout the day before action ends with the men’s and women’s 4x400 meter relays at 8:40 p.m. Championship presentations will then follow at 9 p.m. to conclude the weekend.

The Buccaneers enter the conference meet following a strong performance two weeks ago at the Tennessee Challenge on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville. At the Challenge, multiple collegiate highs, as well as a couple ETSU records, were set. In the 100 meter hurdles, Dede Edgecombe (Spartanburg, S.C.) continued to re-break her own record, this time placing third with an ETSU record-breaking 13.48 time. In addition, Ashley Kessler (Knoxville, Tenn.), too, broke her own school record in the pole vault with a mark of 3.95 meters.  

Entering into competition this weekend, ETSU will look to build on its success last season at the 2013 A-Sun Outdoor Track & Field Championships inside Hodges Stadium.

On day one, the Blue & Gold featured two event winners, eight podium finishes and 10 qualifiers for day two’s finals. In the men’s long jump, Tyler Stepp (Dandridge, Tenn.) continued his consistently stellar play with a first-place mark of 7.56 meters. The then-junior was followed by a meet record from Adam Chase (Kingsport, Tenn.) who took the top standing in the 3000 meter steeplechase with a personal best time of 9:09.85.

Following, on day two, the men took home wins in the 4x100 meter relay, the 100 meter dash, and also featured Filip Jalovy (Modrice, Czech Republic) placing first in the 1500 meter run with a time of 3:58.91. Despite multiple strong showings, though, the men were unable to leapfrog Kennesaw State in first place with 259 points and placed second with 202 total points.

Additionally, the women performed strong on day two including an event win by Verena Tobis (Hechingen, Germany) in the javelin throw with a mark of 42.37 meters. Collectively, the ladies secured a 151.5 point total; good for third place.

Meet information, schedules, and heat sheets for the 2014 Atlantic Sun Outdoor Track & Field Championships can be accessed by visiting AtlanticSun.Org, while live results can be viewed at HalfMileTiming.com. A complete recap of ETSU’s performances each day will be available at ETSUBucs.com.

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