Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina track & field / cross country head coach Jesse Norman today announced the addition of 14 signees representing seven states for the 2024-25 academic year. Of the fourteen additions, six will join an already strong sprint/hurdles group, three to the throws squad, three for the distance events and cross country team, with one reinforcing the multis and the jumps groups.
"This group of fourteen student-athletes represents our push to add quality depth to the program. This group is well rounded with each event group getting some much-needed top-end talent," said Norman. "We've also been able to add some depth that – once developed – will be able to bring us back to Southern Conference team contention annually. Combining this group with our current young group of ladies, we'll look to keep pushing the program back to its championship level in the coming years."
Sprint/Hurdle Group
Marie Harris (St. Francis HS – Dunwoody, Ga.)
PR's: 200m – 26.58, 400m – 58.60, 400H – 1:07.00
Coach Notes: A developing long sprinter who also has the ability to score in the long hurdles, Marie is a great addition to our long sprints/hurdles program. We'll work on developing her speed to make her a more complete sprinter/hurdler.
Octavia Massena (Oxbridge Academy – Lake Worth, Fla.)
PR's: Long Jump – 5.47m, Triple Jump – 11.86m, 200m – 24.92, 400m – 56.37
Coach Notes: A great addition to our program, Octavia is someone who will be able to do it all. She will be a solid contributor in the horizontal jumps and long sprints. She very likely could be a cornerstone of both event groups moving forward here at WCU.
Aniya Patterson (Hillcrest HS – Fountain Inn, S.C.)
PR's: 100m – 12.36, 200m – 25.49, 400m – 59.67
Coach Notes: An exciting addition to the program, Aniya is someone with similar marks of current Catamount, Cymoria Thomas who made some great progressions last year. We expect that Aniya will follow a similar path and become a great sprinter in the future for the Catamounts.
Avery Ponder (Pisgah HS – Canton, N.C.)
PR's: 100m – 12.81, 26.38
Coach Notes: A local product trained in high school by Hall of Fame and former WCU track coach, Danny Williamson, we expect Avery to flourish once she focuses on track here in Cullowhee. She was a dual-sport student-athlete, also participating in cheerleading that took a majority of her time in high school. With a focus on track, we believe she will be able to blossom within our current sprints group.
Marissa Watts (Cuthbertson HS – Monroe, N.C.)
PR's: 100m – 12.62, 200m – 25.53
Coach Notes: A developing sprinter from a program that is used to winning team championships, the addition of Marissa will add great depth to our women's sprints program. She was able to make some solid progressions this past spring and we'll look to continue those progressions during her career here at WCU.
Miranda Watts (Cuthbertson HS – Monroe, N.C.)
PR's: 100m – 12.55, 200m – 26.32
Coach Notes: Like her twin sister, Miranda will be counted on to continue her development and help to build out the depth and quality of our sprints program.
Jump's Group
Raelyn Vadala (Bluefield State University – Buffalo, N.Y.)
PR's: Long Jump – 17-8.75, Triple Jump – 37-3.25
Coach Notes: Raelyn, when paired with Octavia and defending Southern Conference Champion, Jasmine Greene, gives us a good horizontal jumps group which we hope can score more points than last year's group and continue to push our jumps program to new heights.
Multi's Group
Hannah Kline (St. Cloud HS – Saint Cloud, Fla.)
PR's: High Jump – 1.62m, 400m – 1:00.97
Coach Notes: A solid high jumper, she will make the transition to the multi's group to help bolster that event group's depth and quality. We're excited to see her pick up new events and see how she develops in the future.
Throws Group
Lexie Durban (North Forsyth HS – Ball Ground, Ga.)
PR's: Shot Put – 40-8, Discus – 137-2
Coach Notes: A top-notch thrower from the state of Georgia, Lexie is coming off winning the discus at the Georgia High School 6A state championships. She has the making of being one of the better throwers in the Southern Conference. We'll look to her to help bring along our other throwers to make this group a competitive group within the conference.
Emmie Finley (Lakeview Academy – Cleveland, Ga.)
PR's: Shot Put – 36-0, Discus – 104-5
Coach Notes: Emmie is a budding thrower that has had some solid performances in the shot put. We'll look to further her development and to make her a solid contributor within the conference.
Ericka Jackson (Saginaw Valley University – Hummelstown, Pa.)
PR's: Shot Put – 43-7.25, Discus – 148-8, Javelin – 138-4
Coach Notes: A top-notch transfer for us, Ericka will be counted on being a big cornerstone of our throws program moving forward. The addition of Ericka will help us push the quality and depth of our women's throws program to new heights over the coming years and see that program get to a level to help us win team championships.
Distance Group
Hannah Kliner (Oak Glenn HS – Chester, W.Va.)
PR's: 1600m – 5:14.32, 3200m – 11:30.33, 5k – 18:50.88
Coach Notes: A great addition to our distance program, Hannah will be looked at to push our women's distance program up a level within the conference. She is a solid all-around performer that we feel we'll be able to further refine to help us become more competitive at the conference level.
Avery Mays (North Buncombe HS – Weaverville, N.C.)
PR's: 1600m – 5:24.57, 3200m – 11:33.04, 5k – 19:10.00
Coach Notes: Another local product that has had solid development through her high school career, we'll be looking to continue that development. We're excited that Avery will be able to add some much-needed quality depth to our distance program and push on current teammates to help make them better.
Braelyn-Shae Wahy (Satellite HS – Melbourne, Fla.)
PR's: 1600m – 5:13.40, 3200m – 11:02.66, 5k – 19:22.80
Coach Notes: A Florida product that experienced a great progression this spring, we're excited to add someone to the program with credentials on par with current Catamount, Katherine Hopkins. We'll be looking at Braelyn-Shae to push Katherine and to add some needed top-end talent to our distance program.
