CULLOWHEE, N.C. – With two meets down in the 2023-24 season, the Western Carolina track and field teams are hot heading into the Brant Tolsma Invitational scheduled to run January 19-20 in Lynchburg, Va.
With 50 Catamounts within the top five in the Southern Conference rankings across 23 events, head coach Jesse Norman and a contingent of 42 student-athletes will look to grow both of those numbers against a field of 15 teams including SoCon foe Wofford.
The men's throws squad, led by Austin Cline's 16.05m toss at the Clemson Invitational, enters the circle first at 3:00 p.m. Friday. At the same time, Derica Currie will look to open the weekend with the women's long jump. Action concludes Friday night with Alesea Caldwell and Sara Klemm in the women's 3K run, which is set to begin at 7:10 p.m.
Saturday's schedule starts with Toria Roundtree taking the circle for the women's shot put and the women's 60m hurdles prelims getting underway at 11:00 a.m. The Catamounts will consistently compete throughout the day until the weekend comes to a close for Western Carolina with the women's 4x400m relay at 4:10 p.m.
Events to Watch:
The 400m events will be highly competitive this weekend with the men's 400m providing a possible preview of the Southern Conference championships. Every individual top-ten mark in the men's 400m currently belongs to either a Catamount or a Wofford Terrier, with WCU's Noah Straley, David Miles, and Elias Barton holding the top three times. The two teams will have an opportunity to see each other in person for the first time this season.
Additionally, the top two times in both the men's and women's 4x400m relays belong to Western Carolina and Wofford. The men's relay team holds a narrow lead on the Terriers while the women's team will look to shave a few seconds off their time this season to claim the top spot in the SoCon.
The Catamounts will be back in action in February as they head to the VMI Winter Relays scheduled for February 2-3 before returning to the Liberty Indoor Track Complex for the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational on February 9-10.
Friday and Saturday's Meet
Brant Tolsma Invitational | Lynchburg, Va.
January 19, 2024 | 3:00 p.m.
January 20, 2024 | 10:50 a.m.
Teams (15): Appalachian State, Army West Point, Elon, Hampton, Liberty, Queens, Radford, Rio Grande, Sacred Heart, UNCW, USC Upstate, VCU, Western Carolina, William & Mary and Wofford
Results can be found at: Meet Event List (goinguplive.com)
Friday's Events
|
Time
|
Event
|
Athlete (s)
|
|
3:00 p.m.
|
Men's Weight Throw
|
Cline, Ramirez, Center, Dale, Sorrells
|
|
3:00 p.m.
|
Women's Long Jump
|
Currie
|
|
4:30 p.m.
|
Women's Weight Throw
|
Roundtree
|
|
5:00 p.m.
|
Men's Long Jump
|
Javon, Javell, Straley
|
|
6:00 p.m.
|
Men's 200m
|
Ayden, Miles, Straley, Godfrey, Jenkins
|
|
6:20 p.m.
|
Women's 200m
|
Turner, Thomas, Lysight, Blair, Saunders
|
|
6:45 p.m.
|
Men's 3K
|
Edney
|
|
7:10 p.m.
|
Women's 3K
|
Caldwell, Klemm
|
Saturday's Events
|
11:00 a.m.
|
Women's Shot Put
|
Roundtree
|
|
11:00 a.m.
|
Women's 60H Prelims
|
Boyd, Lysight, M. Low
|
|
11:20 a.m.
|
Men's 60H Prelims
|
McFerrin
|
|
11:30 a.m.
|
Women's Pole Vault
|
Gallant, Wagner
|
|
11:35 a.m.
|
Women's Mile
|
Green, Hicks, Hopkins, Runyan, Skoglund
|
|
12:00 p.m.
|
Men's 60m Prelims
|
Miles, Jenkins, Woodard, Ayden, McFerrin
|
|
12:15 p.m.
|
Women's 60m Prelims
|
Blair, Thomas, Greene, M. Lowe
|
|
12:45 p.m.
|
Men's Mile
|
Mitchell, Davis, Elwell, Mecom, Zink
|
|
12:45 p.m.
|
Women's Triple Jump
|
Greene, Currie
|
|
1:00 p.m.
|
Men's Shot Put
|
Cline, Center, Sorrells, Ramirez, Dale
|
|
1:15 p.m.
|
Men's High Jump
|
Javell, Javon, Ledford
|
|
1:30 p.m.
|
Men's 400m
|
Barton, Godfrey
|
|
1:55 p.m.
|
Women's 400m
|
Butler, Saunders
|
|
3:10 p.m.
|
Men's 1K
|
Elwell, Davis, Mecom, Mitchell, Zin
|
|
3:20 p.m.
|
Women's 1K
|
Green, Hicks, Hopkins, Runyan, Skoglund
|
|
3:50 p.m.
|
Men's 4x400m
|
Ayden, Barton, Miles, Straley
|
|
4:10 p.m.
|
Women's 4x400m
|
Team A: Boyd, Butler, Turner, Thomas
Team B: Lysight, Green, Hicks, Skoglund
|
