Track & Field Opens Indoor Season on Saturday
12/2/2011 4:59:00 PM
"We're excited to get out there and compete," said Head Coach Marlo Mincey. "We've been practicing hard, but it's time to see where we're at against other competition and this meet will be a good benchmark for us to start the season."
The Eagles are coming off a third place finish in the Southern Conference Indoor Championships in February and a fifth place finish at the Outdoor Championships in April. Georgia Southern was paced last season by then-senior Lynndsey Hyter, who won Most Outstanding Field Performer and Most Outstanding Athlete honors at the indoor championships. The Eagles return several letterwinners who also made big contributions last season.
Junior Ebony Carter (Rome, Ga.) won the 100 meter Dash SoCon title at last season's outdoor championships and recorded the second fastest time in Georgia Southern history. Carter also finished fourth in the 200 meter Dash while posting the fifth-best time in school history.
Sophomore Stephanie Hicks (Trenton, N.J.) was awarded All-SoCon Freshman Team honors last season at both the indoor and outdoor championships. In February, Hicks finished fourth in the Pentathlon and sixth in the 60 meter Hurdles. At the outdoor championships, Hicks received the distinction in three events, the Heptathlon, Long Jump and 100 meter Hurdles while also finishing third in the Heptathlon to earn All-Southern Conference honors in that event. Her 4,535-point total in the multi-event ranks fourth on Georgia Southern's all-time chart.
Junior Jasmine Billings (Lawrenceville, Va.) earned All-Conference honors at the indoor championships with a third-place finish in the 60 meter Dash. Billings also owns the third-best time in GSU history in the 60 meter Hurdles.
Junior Sara Curry (Lawrenceville, Ga.) set the fastest time in school history in the 5,000 meter Run at the indoor championships and the fastest time in school history in the 10,000 meter Run at the outdoor championships. Curry also holds the school record in the 3,000 meter Run.
Sophomore Dana Edwards (Athens, Ga.) was named to the All-Freshman team at the outdoor championships in the 400 meter Hurdles and junior Charnelle Wray (Jamaica, N.Y.) will be called on to rack up some points in throwing events this season for the Eagles. Georgia Southern will also have several newcomers who will be asked to contribute early this season.
"We're going to be a well-rounded team this season," said Mincey. "All of our returners and many of our newcomers are going to be big for us. As a team, we're going to be more collective in our point scoring and we will be looking for points out of some areas that historically we haven't scored a lot of points in."
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