CHARLESTON, SC – The Winthrop women's track and field team finished fourth while the men's team was eighth in the 2010 Big South Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships which concluded Saturday at the Bagwell-Settle Track Complex on the campus of Charleston Southern University. Liberty captured both the men's and women's titles.
Winthrop's top female performances came from the 4x400 meter relay team which captured first place with a time of 3:43.64 and senior hurdler Rebecca Holmes who won the 100 meter hurdles title with a clocking of 13.90. The 4x400 relay time set new Big South meet, stadium and school records.
Other top performances for the Winthrop women came from senior throws specialist Ashley Howard, senior distance runner Carey Philllips, and junior sprinter Sasha Robinson. Howard finished second in the discus (153 ft, 6 in.) and shot put (41 ft, 9 in.). Phillips finished second in the 5,000 meter run (18:09.35) and the 10,000 meter run (38:08.60) while Robinson was second in the 400 meter dash as she set a new school record of 54.57 sec.. Robinson also ran the final leg of the 4x400 meter relay team.
Winthrop's top men's performances came from junior hurdler Keary Simms and sophomore throws specialist Billy Pearce. Simms finished second in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 14.11 sec. while Pearce claimed second place in the discus (159 feet) and was third in the shot put (51 ft, 6.25 in.).
Each of the Winthrop performers listed above earned All-Big South Conference honors for their top three finishes.
Evans Kigen of Liberty took home the men's Outstanding Track Performer for his efforts during the meet, winning the 3,000 meter steeplechase and 5,000 meter run with facility records in both events. Ikeiylah Brown of Coastal Carolina won the Outstanding Women's Track Performer. Brown set an overall Big South record in the preliminaries of the 100 meter dash, and finished second in the 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash and 4x100 meter relay.
The men's Most Outstanding Field Performer went to Liberty's Clarence Powell, who finished first in the long jump, second in the triple jump and third in the high jump. The women's honor went to Coastal Carolina's Brittany Connor, who won the shot put and discus events, setting a facility record in the discus. Connor also earned a spot on the podium in the hammer throw with a third-place finish.
The complete list of award winners is as follows:
Men's Most Outstanding Track Performer
Evans Kigen, Liberty
Women's Most Outstanding Track Performer
Ikeiylah Brown, Coastal Carolina
Men's Most Outstanding Field Performer
Clarence Powell, Liberty
Women's Most Outstanding Field Performer
Brittany Connor, Coastal Carolina
Men's Freshman of the Year
Josh Pelletier, High Point
Women's Freshman of the Year
Megan Burggraf, Liberty
Men's All-Academic Team
Josh Morgan, High Point
Josh Edmonds, Liberty
Matt Dobson, Radford
Paul Steinke, Gardner-Webb
Matt Satterwhite, VMI
Simon Haake, UNCA
Jason Jensen, Coastal Carolina
Adam Freudenthal, Winthrop
J.P. Poisson, Charleston Southern
Women's All-Academic Team
Rebekah Ricksecker, Liberty
Carrie Long, Gardner-Webb
Brittany Christian, Radford
Christina Fenske, High Point
Mikaela Terry, Coastal Carolina
Natalie Pearson, UNCA
Hannah Granger, VMI
Amami Anita-Obong, Winthrop
Tia Habersham, Charleston Southern
Men's Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Josh Morgan, High Point
Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Rebekah Ricksecker, Liberty
Men's Coach of the Year
Brant Tolsma, Liberty
Women's Coach of the Year
Brant Tolsma, Liberty
