Lady Bucs Claim Second Overall; Best Finish Since 1996

ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Lady Bucs lived up to their own expectations as they easily claimed second in the team race for just the first time since the 1996 season, amassing 186 points at the 2008 New Balance Big South Track and Field Championships.

A solid second, the Lady Bucs trailed only Coastal Carolina who had 230 points, while Liberty’s 154 points put them third.

Misha Morris claimed the gold in the 100m dash, edging out teammate Jessica Thomas as the duo finished in 11.89 and 11.97 seconds, respectively. Cachettar Delamar claimed fifth with a 12.24-second finish, while Alicia Bennett’s time of 12.95 took eighth.

Dionne Gibson claimed one of her championships in the 200m dash, running 24.42 seconds. Morris was third (24.99) while Thomas (25.19) and Delamar (25.35) finished neck-and-neck for fifth and sixth, respectively.

Despite coming in seeded second to someone who set a Big South record in the preliminaries, Gibson improved to claim gold in the 400m as well with a time of 55.17 seconds. Ebony Muller just missed all-conference honors with a fourth-place time of 56.62 seconds.

Kim Allen ran well in the 100m hurdles to get much needed points with an all-conference, third-place finish in a time of 14.44 seconds, while Bennett placed eighth in 15.26 seconds.

Chidi Walsh finished second overall with a time of 1:03.40, while Amerikorie Odey’s time of 1:09.92 put her in fifth.

A regional qualifying time of 45.42 seconds in the 4X100m relay gave the Lady Bucs a full second advantage over second-place as they set a facility and school record in both relay events, Saturday. The 4X400m team also set a record, running 3:47.75 to win their event as CSU continued to add up the points. The 4X100m relay time also set the Big South Championship meet record, and was the fastest time ever run by a conference school.

In the long jump, Bridgette Copeland cleared 5.42m (17-9.5) to claim sixth, while Delamar (5.38m, 17-8), Gibson (5.11m 16-9) and Shavonne Wigfall (5.10m, 16-8.75) finished eight-nine-10, respectively.

Copeland and Gibson claimed fourth and fifth in the triple jump with hops-skips-and-jumps of 11.78 (38-7.75) and 11.40m (37-5), respectively. Christi English finished just out of the points with a ninth-place finish of 10.69m (35-1).

Jocelyn Davis’ run of conference championships came to an end with a runner-up finish in the discus as she tossed it 41.67m (136-8), but fell to a Big South record-breaking performance from Winthrop’s Ashley Howard.

With a total tally of 3,905 points, Channel Futrell finished third in the heptathlon, while Octavia Best’s 3,605 points put her in fifth.

Charleston Southern’s Alonzo Spurley took home the men’s Outstanding Track Performer for his efforts during the meet.  Spurley won both the 100 meter and 400 meter events.  In the 4X100 meter relay, he helped his team to a first place finish and ran a leg of the 4X400 meter team that finished second overall.  Dionne Gibson of Charleston Southern won the Outstanding Women’s Track Performer.  Gibson won the 200 meters and the 400 meters, and also led her team to the top spot in both the 4X400 and 4X100 meter relays.

Charleston Southern’s Misha Morris won the women’s Freshman of the Year award.  Morris took first place in the 100 meters and led her 4X100 and 4X400 meter relay teams to a No. 1 finish.  Morris also earned All-Conference honors in the 200 meters as she finished third in the event.  Clarence Powell of Liberty won the men’s Freshman of the Year award as he finished atop the podium in the triple jump.

Tosha Ansley took home the women’s Coach of the Year award after leading Charleston Southern to their best finish since 1996 as the Bucs finished second. 

The Lady Bucs will head to a couple of last chance meets, starting with the Orange and Purple Classic on May 10 as they try to qualify additional athletes for the NCAA Championships in late May.