Thursday, February 21, 2002

Johnson City, Tenn. (February 21, 2002) - East Tennessee State University will host the Southern Conference Indoor Track and Field meet starting Friday, Feb. 22 and ending Saturday, Feb. 23 at the Memorial Center. Highlighting the track events for the Bucs will be freshman sprinter Chantelle Vernon (Markham, Ontario). Vernon broke the school 60-meter indoor record in her first collegiate race and then broke her own record a few weeks later with a time of 7.40 seconds. Vernon was awarded SoCon Athlete of the Week honors for the week of Jan. 23 for her record-breaking performances. She also holds the ETSU record for the 55-meter dash (6.90 seconds). Vernon also has the fastest times in both events. The women's team has other athletes among the Southern Conference leaders. Senior Jennifer Howard (Knoxville, Tenn.) is the fastest in the 400 meters when she ran a 57.35 at the Rod McCravy invitational on Feb. 2nd. Roseline Addo (Newbury, England) scored the conference's fastest mark in the 800 meters (2:11.26) on Feb. 8th at the Virginia Tech Challenge. ETSU's women's 4x400m-relay team is the fastest in the SoCon with a 3:51.84 set on Jan. 26th at the Blue Heaven Rumble. The men have several athletes in the top-10 in the Southern Conference. Leading the conference in the long jump is junior Charvin Clark (Ellenwood, Ga.) who jumped 23' 7.5" on Feb. 15th at the Tennessee Indoor Classic. Josh Artau (Hatboro, Pa.) is currently second in the SoCon in the shot put with a throw of 51' 9" from Feb. 2nd at the Rod McCravy Invitational. The men's distance medley relay team is second with a time of 10:37.00, which was set on Jan. 18th at the Appalachian Invitational. Kaylin Chesney (Knoxville, Tenn.) is fourth in the 55-meter (7.98 seconds) and 60-meter hurdle (8.53 seconds) in the conference. Events begin Friday at 2:30 p.m. with the women competing in the 3,000m run, long jump, shot put, and pole vault. The men begin at 2:55 p.m. with the 3,000m run. The final event of the day will be the men's and women's distance medley relay. On Saturday, competition begins at 9:00 a.m. with the men's 35-lb. weight throw. Championship trophy presentation will begin approximately 3:50 p.m. to end the event. Complete results will be available on the Southern Conference Indoor Track and Field page at www.SoConSports.com.