April 24, 2009
Live Scoring For SoCon Championships
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University track and field team will travel to Statesboro, Ga., this weekend to compete in the 2009 Southern Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The two-day event is set to begin Saturday, April 25 at Georgia Southern's Eagle Field. This is the first trip for the Bulldogs to this event.
"This weekend will be special because it is the first," Samford head coach Rod Tiffin said. "I know that we are right where we need to be in our training and I feel confident that we will do our best. The key in meets like this is to not try and do anything extra. If we can go in and do what we have done all season, we will have a great meet. A lot of teams and individuals try to go and do something extra, and end up pressing and get lost in the moment. We are going to accept the moment, get excited about it and let our talent come forward."
The Appalachian State Mountaineers are the returning champions on the men's side while the Western Carolina Catamounts are the defending champions on the women's side.
The Samford track and field team has had a breakout season in their first year under the direction of Tiffin and his staff. During the outdoor season, the Bulldogs have finished in the top three of their respective events 44 times, set 53 personal best and four school records while also have three Regional qualifiers. There have been at least five personal bests set at each meet this season.
Patrick Wells, who is this week's SoCon Field Athlete of the Week, has won six out of nine of his pole vault competitions this season, three of those in outdoor, having only competed in the event at four outdoor meets. He now holds both the indoor and outdoor pole vault school records and qualified for the Mideast Regional last weekend at the War Eagle Invitational.
Hillary Neal is the front runner on the women's side as she has won four out of the five events that she has run this season. She regionally qualified for the 800 meters in the Austin Peay Governors' Invitational when she won the event and regionally qualified for the 1500 meters last weekend at the War Eagle Invitational in a school record time.
The Bulldogs are also led by four seniors who have contributed a large amount to the team, both on the field and in leadership. Those four are Katie Almand, Ashley Flowers, Asa Ackerson and Cameron Bean.
"I think the season has been exceptional," Tiffin said. "I cannot think of one person this year that has not had a personal best. And more importantly, we have really excelled in the classroom. Both the men's and women's cross country teams made Academic All-American. I could not have asked for a better start and really appreciate all of my seniors in the way that they have embraced the new philosophies and helped me get the rest of the team on board."
The championships will begin Saturday morning at 7 a.m. CT and run through Sunday, with the awards ceremony tentatively scheduled for 4:45 p.m. CT. This is only the second time that Georgia Southern has hosted the championships. The first was in 2006.
The championship is free to the public. Live results will be available after each event at www.cfpitiming.com. A full recap and results will be available on www.samfordsports.com upon the completion of each day's events.
