CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Coastal Carolina women's outdoor track team hung onto its large points lead to win the 2004 Big South Conference title Saturday, April 17, on the campus of Charleston Southern University. The Lady Chants won with 240 points, 17 points ahead of second-place Liberty. The men's team, who led after day one of the championships but fell into second behind Liberty after Friday's competition, took the silver medal today with 189 points, 47.5 points behind the Flames.
The women's win marked the first time in history that Coastal has won the cross country, indoor, and outdoor conference titles in the same season.
Overall, Coastal won 20 of the meet's events. Nine Lady Chants won indivdual crowns, with senior Amber Campbell (Indianapolis, Ind./Pike) and freshman Chasity Johnson (North Charleston, S.C./Fort Dorchester) each winning two events. Campbell placed first in both the discus and hammer throws, and Johnson won the triple and long jumps. Johnson also broke the school 200-meter dash record in the preliminaries with a time of 25.17, and Campbell broke the school shot put record with her second place throw of 14.42 meters.
Senior Marilyn Testa (McDonald, Ohio/McDonald) won the women's pole vault, clearing 3.96 meters and breaking the school record that she set earlier this season. Javelin champion freshman Dana Sizemore (Gibbstown, N.J./Paulsboro) also set a new record with her toss of 45.86 meters.
Other individual champions on the women's side were junior Anne Marie Moutsinga (Galati, Romania/Radu Negru) in the 5,000-meter run, freshman Claudia Witte (Warlin, Germany/Sportgymnasium Neubrandenburg) in the 10,000-meter run, and freshman Daneja Grandovec (Maribor, Slovenia/Gimnasija Maribor) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
On the men's side, there were 11 individual champions in eight events, including a triple-crown for junior Terah Kipchiris (Kitale, Kenya/Saboti Secondary (Kenyatta)), who won the 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs as well as the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Other winners included senior Jacob Simatwa (Endebess, Kenya/Saboti Secondary (Kenyatta)) with a school record-setting time of 47.56 in the 400-meter dash and junior Kendall White (Columbia, S.C./Richland Northeast), who also set a new school record, running the 400-meter hurdles in 52.88 seconds. Sophomore Mark Johnson (North Myrtle Beach, S.C./North Myrtle Beach) won the pole vault and set a new school record as well, clearing 5.13 meters, and freshman Thomas Jordan (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest) continued his impressive inaugural season with a record-setting toss of the javelin, winning the individual crown with a throw of 70.87 meters. The men's 4x400-meter relay squad also won and set a new school record with a time of 3:12.96 seconds.
Coastal had 13 women in 22 events and 13 men in 13 events earn All-Conference honors by finishing in the top three of each event.
Full results from the Big South Championships can be found at Coastal Carolina's official athletics web site, www.coastal.edu/athletics.
The CCU outdoor track teams continue the 2004 season next weekend at the prestigious Penn Relays Carnival, Thursday, April 22, through Saturday, April 23, in Philadelphia, Pa.
2004 All-Conference Honorees
Women
Lital Azulay (5,000m, 10,000m)
Amber Campbell (Discus, Hammer, Shot Put)
Daneja Grandovec (5,000m, 3,000m steeplechase)
Chasity Johnson (Long Jump, Triple Jump)
Lindsey Kozlowski (3,000m steeplechase)
Anne Marie Moutsinga (1,500m, 5,000m, 10,000m)
Kim Nemergut (800m, 1,500m)
Karen Olesky (Hammer)
Brittany Reid (Shot Put)
Dana Sizemore (Javelin)
Marilyn Testa (Pole Vault, Javelin)
Jessica Watson (800m)
Claudia Witte (10,000m)
Men
Brandon Anderson (200m)
Ray Felton (Decathlon)
Marcus Johnson (Triple Jump)
Mark Johnson (Pole Vault)
Thomas Jordan (Javelin)
Terah Kipchiris (5,000m, 10,000m, 3,000m steeplechase)
Nelson Oliveira (10,000m)
Jacob Simatwa (400m, 800m)
Kendall White (400m hurdles)
