May 13, 2007
Photo Gallery
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.- The Owls' Soibhan Wolcott took first place in the 800-meter run on the final day of the 2007 Atlantic Sun Outdoor Track & Field Championships held at Liberty Bell Track on Saturday. Wolcott's spectacular race highlighted the day for Kennesaw State as the Owls finished seventh overall.
"We had some strong performances on Saturday," said head coach Don McGarey. "Siobhan [Wolcott] ran extremely well as did Erin [Sutton] and Stacie [Anthony] did well in the heptathlon. I wish we could have got some more points in some other events."
During the first 400 meters, Wolcott paced herself and was in with the pack of 10 runners until the final lap where she was able to distance the field and win the Owls lone championship of the weekend. Exhausted and nearly unable to stand on her own, she finished the race with a personal best time of 2 minutes, 13.39 seconds and won the event by nearly two seconds.
"By the final straight away I was just hoping that I wouldn't get passed because that was as fast as I could possibly run," said a very excited Wolcott minutes after the race had ended. "I'm just happy to be standing."
" She's just a little power runner," boasted assistant coach Stan Sims. "She waits until the time is right and then turns it on all the way."
Earlier in the day, the women's heptathlon ended with Kennesaw State picking up six points courtesy of a third-place finish by Stacie Anthony and a fifth place showing by Alanna Hensley. Anthony finished with 3908 points, one of three finishers to top the 3900-point mark. Hensley finished with 3672 points.
"The high jump is my favorite part of the Heptathlon," said Anthony after the competition. "Now having to run the 800 is my least favorite thing. It always worries me having to run it at the end of the competition because I'm afraid that it will bring down my score."
In the 5000-meter run, Erin Sutton was able to put up points for the Owls and earn her second all-conference performance of the weekend with a third-place finish. From the gun, Sutton was among the leaders in the 26-runner field and stayed within the top three runners throughout the 12-lap event, finishing with a time of 18:05.56.
Britany Reilly finished in eighth place after running a personal best time of 18:28.14 in the event. The freshman stayed within striking distance of the pack for the first half of the race and was in contention for points until the final two laps.
"I'm happy that was able to run a personal best in the championships," said Reilly. "But I'm not pleased with my finish. I just really wanted to be able to get us some points."
Also in the 5000, Catherine Combs, who spent Friday evening in the hospital taking care of an extreme swelling in her arm, rallied to finish in 13th place with a time of 19:34.18.
In other events, Taylor Harris placed seventh in both the 100 and 200-meter dash. She finished the 200 in a time of 26.22 while posting a 12.73 time in the 100 meters. After qualifying for the finals of the 100-meter hurdles on Friday afternoon, Lakeshia Stinson finished eighth with a time 15.99, .44 seconds off her qualifying time.
The Kennesaw State relay teams finished sixth in the 4x100 meters and fifth in the 4x400 meters.
2007 Atlantic Sun Conference Women's Track & Field Outdoor Championships
at Liberty Bell Park, Johnson City, Tenn.
Team Scoring
1. Jacksonville (179)
2. Belmont (97)
3. ETSU (90)
4. Gardner-Webb (86)
5. North Florida (83.5)
6. Campbell (66.5)
7. Kennesaw State (35)
8. Lipscomb (8)
Kennesaw State Champions
Soibhan Wolcott - 5,000 Meter Dash
All-Conference Performers
Erin Sutton - 5,000 Meter Run, 10,000 Meter Run
Soibhan Wolcott - 800 Meter Run
Stacie Anthony - Heptathlon
