Chase Eckard was one of many Niners who improved on school-record marks in the Charlotte record books. |
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Charlotte Bests Several School Marks at Georgia Tech
May 13, 2007
Atlanta, Ga. - The Charlotte 49ers saw recently-set school records fall again and qualifying marks extended as a small group of track and field competitors traveled to George Tech over the weekend.
The women's 4x100m relay of Lajarsha Moses, Shareese Woods, Lamarra Currie and Courtney Patterson crushed school record winning in 44.13 in a strong field of teams. There were a number of conference meets this weekend so the NCAA regional and national lists will probably see significant changes but going into this weekend this time would rank the women 2nd in the region and 8th in the nation, moving them from 6th in region and 17th in nation previously.
"The relay was pure excitement as we moved ahead of strong teams from Miami and Virginia Tech on the regional rankings," said Niners track and field head coach bob Olesen.
In the race, senior Shareese Woods opened up a lead on the second leg and clean handoffs kept them convincingly in the lead through the finish line.
"Coach Hall and the women were ecstatic and although the handoffs were clean they can still be faster and they're looking to go sub 44 seconds at the regional championship," said Olesen.
Sophomore Aja Jackson dropped her school record by almost 2 seconds to 2:06.92 a very impressive drop. She won her heat, was the top collegiate finisher and 6th overall with athletes from Nike, Reebok and Adidas ahead of her. Aja went out in the middle of pack and steadily moved her way up to 3rd at the 400m point and continued up into the lead with 300m to go and extended the lead to just over 2 seconds in her heat by the finish. This would rank her 5th in the region and 22nd in the nation coming into the weekend, moving up from 22nd and 85th respectively.
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"Aja had a fantastic race she is a real competitor with the ability to race with whoever she lines up against," said Olesen. "This is important as we go to region as it is a head to head race to finish in the top five and advance to national meet. This two-second improvement on her personal best makes her a legitimate contender for advancement to nationals."
Like Jackson, her sophomore men's team counterpart in the 800m, Chase Eckard, dropped his personal best and the school record by a significant amount being the first sub-1:50 runner in school history. His heat winning 1:49.40 placed him 4th overall. Chase was already qualified for the region meet as the A-10 Conference Champion but with this performance he also eclipses the qualifying time required for regional competition. This time would rank him 6th in the region and 30th in the nation coming into the weekend improving from 22nd and 74th respectively.
"Chase looked great and surged into the lead with 250m left with the best looking running form and turnover of his career," said Olesen. "Like Aja, this makes Chase a real contender for advancement to nationals at the region meet in Gainesville, Florida in two weeks."
Sophomore Adu Dentamo narrowly missed regional qualifying times but impressed none the less with a school record in the 1500m going 3:49.71 forthe first sub 3:50 in school history. He finished 9th in a strong field of runners most of whom are regional qualifiers. He was only a couple of places behind teammate Eckard in their heat of the 800m and if not for Eckard, Dentamo's time would have broken the preexisting school record as well making, him the 2nd fastest all time for 800m. This season Adu has broken the 1500m and 3000m school records, moved to second on the 800m all-time list, was a member of the school record 4x800m team and moved to number seven on the 5000m all-time list.
"Adu has had a tremendous season showing great strength and an impressive range."
Junior Ashley Wiley added to her school record in the hammer throw finishing 8th with a 47.80m (156'10) toss.
"Ashley has had a solid season and her progress in all of the throwing events bodes well for her senior campaign in 2008, especially in the technically challenging hammer and weight throw events," beamed Olesen.
Senior Shareese Woods won the 200m dash in a quick 23.17-second result, only .05 from her season's best in a deep field of sprinters. She was also 4th in the 100m preliminaries at 11.59 and unable to run in a final as it was cancelled due to weather. Sprinters Lamarra Currie, Courtney Patterson, Lajarsha Moses, and Jason Moore all had solid performances in their open sprint events to help tune up for the upcoming regional championship.
Sophomore Pat Springs was the 2nd collegiate finisher in the long jump with yet another meet over the 6 meter mark at 6.04m (19'9.75) showing consistency that can pay off at region.
3000m steeplechase school-record holder Tsehaye Dagnachew who is redshirting this outdoor season competed unattached in the steeplechase and dropped her lifetime best and school-record time by nine seconds for 2nd place in 10:12.71. If she were representing the team this spring this would rank her 3rd in the region and 7th in the nation. This time also meets the USATF National Championship A qualifying standard making her an auto qualifier for the USA Championship in Indianapolis in June.
Freshmen Alan Ford and Jonathan Galberth both narrowly missed qualifying for the USATF Junior Nationals with lifetime bests in the 1500m run and 400m Hurdles respectively both missing the standard by less than 1 second but very good efforts all the same.
The Niners will train for the next two weeks in preparation for the NCAA East Regional meet in Gainesville, Fla.
