Women Record Two Additional NCAA Regional Performances, Improve on Another at Sea Ray Relays
April 13, 2008
Knoxville, Tenn. - Senior All-American Courtney Patterson won the invitational section of the 100m dash at the Sea Ray Relays at the University of Tennessee this weekend with an improved NCAA Regional qualifying time of 11.47, anchoring three 49er NCAA Regional qualifying performances. She later added another qualifier in the invitational 200m at 23.96 seconds.
"The weather caused some complications in Knoxville but we achieved some key improvements," head coach Bob Olesen said. "Things are right on schedule with regards to the women's Atlantic 10 Championship defense and the men's recapture of the conference title."
Joining Patterson in the women's events, junior Pat Springs jumped the furthest of her career in the long jump, covering 20'8.5" (6.31m) for third place but was aided by a following wind that exceeded the limit for school record purposes. Junior Lamarra Currie finished a strong third in the invitational 100m at 11.52 seconds, a lifetime best ranking her third all-time for Charlotte. Currie, Patterson, and Springs were joined by senior Lajarsha Moses for a second place finish 45.24 in the 4x100m relay behind host Tennessee. In the 4x400m relay, a season's best time of 3:44.96 was run by Yvonna Hines, Olivia Brown, Ebonie Cunningham, and Kortnie Coleman, finishing ninth and continuing the team's top ranking in the conference.
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In the men's events, freshman Reggie Hill ran the fastest 100m dash of his career at 10.50 seconds but, like many events on the weekend, was aided by wind too high to qualify for record and NCAA regional qualifying purposes. Freshman Darius Law finished ninth in the 400m in 47.43 with classmate Handy Dawes recording a season's best time of 48.92. Hurdlers Dewayne Chandler, Korel Mack, Jake Wainwright, and Derrick Eure established a school record in the 4x100m hurdles shuttle relay, turning in a second-place time of 58.93 behind Big 10 power Wisconsin. The 4x400m relay team of Law, Tavaris Leak, Dawes, and Hill recorded the ninth-fastest time in school history at 3:12.78.
Three field athletes on the men's side also achieved best performances. Senior Morris LeBlanc triple jumped 47'4.25" (14.43m), a season's best which places him second in the A-10 rankings. In the open section of the javelin throw, sophomore Mike Moore threw a lifetime best 187'3 (57.08m) for fourth place and second all-time for Charlotte, while in the discus throw, freshman Jason Roberts landed the discus at 155'9 (47.47m) for second place all-time.
Next weekend will be the busiest in the history of the program with team members competing in four different competitions. While the bulk of the team will contest the Davidson Invitational on Saturday, a number of sprinters will race at North Carolina A&T on both Friday and Saturday. Senior steeplechase standout Tsehaye Dagnachew will head west to southern California and the Mt. SAC Relays in search of fast competition and several other distance runners will travel to Princeton in search of the same in their respective event specialties.
