49ers Sweep Men's and Women's Team Titles at A-10 Indoor Track Championships
Women's Results | Men's Results
Complete Release in PDF Format
Feb. 18, 2006
(must place in the top 2 of an event for all-conference; third place receives medal; see page 5 of the attached PDF for a full list of 49er scoring performances)
• Carlitha Sturdivant, Angel Moore, Tina Horne, Shareese Woods, 4x400-meter relay - CHAMPIONS
• Quincy Smith, Jason Moore, Lloyd LeBlanc, James Bacon, 4x400-meter relay - CHAMPIONS
• Chase Eckard, Riaan Lourens, Jordan Olsen, Russell Slade, 4x800-meter relay - CHAMPIONS
• Cassie Ficken, 1-mile run - CHAMPION
• Cassie Ficken, 3,000-meter run - CHAMPION
• Ben McCallum, 55-meter dash - CHAMPION
• Courtney Patterson, 55-meter dash - CHAMPION
• Shareese Woods, 200-meter dash - CHAMPION
• Shareese Woods, 400-meter dash - CHAMPION
• James Bacon, 400-meter dash - Runner-Up
• Tsehaye Dagnachew, 5,000-meter run - Runner-Up
• Chase Eckard, 800-meter run - Runner-Up
• Aja Jackson, 800-meter run - Runner-Up
• Ryan Keziah, 55-meter hurdles - Runner-Up
• Ben McCallum, 200-meter dash - Runner-Up
• Jason Moore, 55-meter dash - Runner-Up
• Russell Slade, 1-mile dash - Runner-Up
• Pat Springs, 55-meter hurdles - Runner-Up
• Pat Springs, long jump - Runner-Up
• Tempess Stark, 55-meter dash - Runner-Up
• Tempess Stark, triple jump - Runner-Up
2006 INDOOR TRACK ATLANTIC 10 MEDAL WINNERS
• Lindsey Clayborn, triple jump - Third Place
• Montray Gilchrist, long jump - Third Place
• Angel Moore, 400-meter dash - Third Place
• Jason Moore, 200-meter dash - Third Place
• Karina Murray, pole vault - Third Place
• Matt Page, shot put - Third Place
• Courtney Patterson, 200-meter dash - Third Place
• Kevin Ryan, high jump - Third Place
• Liz Smith, 1,000-meter run - Third Place
• Eli Sunquist, triple jump - Third Place
Kingston, R.I. -- The Charlotte 49ers captured six individual championships, including five on the women's side alone, and added three relay titles en route to winning both the men's and women's team titles in their first-ever appearances at the Atlantic 10 Conference Indoor Track Championships, held Saturday afternoon at the University of Rhode Island's Mackal Fieldhouse.
Following the teams' efforts, head coach Robert Olesen was chosen as the Coach of the Year for both men's and women's indoor track. Junior Shareese Woods was the Women's Most Outstanding Track Performer as the highest-scoring female athlete at the meet. Both awards were voted on by the A-10 head coaches.
"It was an awesome, historic day for both teams," said Olesen. "We're proud to bring home the first men's and women's conference championships for Charlotte. No meet goes perfectly, and we lost some points we thought we would have ... but we gained points back in some other areas. We actually scored more points than we projected on both sides. We scored significant points in all event areas, which is a testament to our recruiting philosophy and depth.I am honored to be Coach of the Year and I thank my coaching staff and all of our student-athletes for making it possible."
The five women's individual titles nearly matched the school's total won in the previous 13 indoor seasons (six). In all, Charlotte brought home a total of 30 all-conference awards - 15 for the women and 15 for the men. Additionally, five women and five men earned medals for third-place finishes. There were two Atlantic 10 Championship meet records and three school records established.
It was the first-ever conference championship for the Charlotte women's team, who established their previous-high finish last season in Conference USA when they placed second. Charlotte finished with 172 total points, the second-highest total in Championship history, to end a five-year run of team titles by Rhode Island.
La Salle finished second with 92 points, followed by Saint Joseph's (83), Richmond (79), Rhode Island (75), Fordham (73), Dayton (46), Duquesne (41.5), Massachusetts (38), Temple (31.5) and Xavier (10).
For the Charlotte men's program, it was the school's second indoor track team championship. The Niners also took home the 2001 C-USA title. The 49ers amassed 180 points in defeating two-time defending champion Rhode Island, 180-146. La Salle finished third with 111 points, followed by Saint Joseph's (87), Massachusetts (83), Fordham (64), Richmond (36), Temple (24) and Xavier (7).
Junior Shareese Woods was chosen as the Women's Most Outstanding Track Performer after out-scoring all other runners with 22.50 points, including a pair of individual titles in the 200- and 400-meter dashes. Woods's 400-meter time of 55.11, while not her season best, was the fastest ever run at an A-10 Championship meet. She also anchored Charlotte's championship-winning 4x400-meter relay team.
Joining Woods with a pair of individual titles was redshirt senior Cassie Ficken, who took home gold medals in both the 1-mile and 3,000-meter runs. It was the second straight indoor season that Ficken has won conference titles in those two events.
"The distance events in this Conference are real strong so it is a great testament to Cassie's ability to win both in such a short period," said Olesen.
"Shareese was a little sick but was able to fight and set a Conference record. We'll move on in the upcoming weeks and see if these two standouts can earn a berth in the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships."
Woods and Ficken, who was Conference USA's Athlete of the Year in 2005, give the 49ers back-to-back conference MVP awards.
Junior Courtney Patterson, in her first year with the 49ers after transferring from N.C. State, captured the title in the 55-meter dash for the fifth women's individual championship.
On the men's side, Ben McCallum was the lone individual champion when he took gold in the 55-meter dash. He cruised to a Championship-record victory in the 55m dash and finished runner-up in the 200m dash (21.70). McCallum's winning time of 6.23 in the 55-meter dash eclipsed the previous A-10 record of 6.30, shared by Andre Davis (2000) of Virginia Tech, who is now a wide receiver in the NFL, and Kwesi Frimpong-Boateng (2002) of Massachusetts. It was also a Charlotte school record, besting the mark set by All-American Derrick Johnson last year.
"We only had one competitor win an event but I think it's a testament to our depth across the board. It's very gratifying to win two A-10 Championships and it really justifies my coaching philosophy of paying homage to the entire sport and balance our resources in all event areas," said Olesen.
Joining Woods on the championship women's 4x400-meter relay team were Carlitha Sturdivant, Angel Moore and Tina Horne.
For the men, there were two relay championships. Quincy Smith, Jason Moore, Lloyd LeBlanc and James Bacon took home the men's 4x400-meter relay championship, giving the 49ers a monopoly on that race for 2006.
Chase Eckard, Riaan Lourens, Jordan Olsen and Russell Slade scored another 10 points for the team championship when they won the 4x800-meter relay in their first attempt at the race this season. Those two events closed out the day.
Both team championships were won thanks to the teams' quality depth. The men's team, with just one individual champion, boasted six runner-up performances. The women also added six runner-up finishes to their five individual championships.
Jason Moore was second to teammate McCallum in the 55, tying the previous school record and ranking second all-time. Moore also captured all-conference honors in the 200 with a third-place finish in 21.78, his new personal best that improves on third place all-time.
James Bacon was runner-up in the 400, while Ryan Keziah (55-hurdles), Chase Eckard (800) and Russell Slade (mile) also finished second. Eckard improved upon his personal best at 1:56.05, moving up to fourth all-time at Charlotte.
Rounding out the men's medal winners were third-place finishers Kevin Ryan (high jump), Montray Gilchrist (long jump), Eli Sunquist (triple jump) and Matt Page (shot put). Page's shot put distance was one foot, four inches better than his previous best and moves him into second place on the school's all-time list for that event.
In the women's championship, Tsehaye Dagnachew was the runner-up in the 5,000-meter run while Aja Jackson took silver in the 800. Jackson set a new school record in the event at 2:14.93.
Pat Springs was second in both the 55-meter hurdles and the long jump, while Tempess Stark also boasted a pair of second-place medals in the 55-meter dash and triple jump. Springs' 55-hurdles time was a personal best at 8.34.
Earning medals for third-place finishes were Lindsey Clayborn (triple jump), Angel Moore (400-meter dash), Karina Murray (pole vault), Courtney Patterson (200) and Liz Smith (1,000). Smith's 1,000-meter time was a school record at 2:55.12.
In all, 19 women's performers contributed to the team's 172 points. For the men, there were even more - 26 different student-athletes contributed to 180 team points.
All full list of all scorers for both the men's and women's teams appears on page five of the attached PDF document.
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