Houston Wins 100m Dash as Lady Bucs Finish Third at 2010 Big South Outdoor Track and Field Championships

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Gabrielle Houston broke school record, winning the 100 meter dash in the process, helping lead the Charleston Southern women’s track and field team to a third-place finish at the 2010 Big South Outdoor Track and Field Championships, held at the Bagwell-Settle Track. In addition, Tia Habersham was named to the 2010 Big South All-Academic Team for her work in the class room as well as in the field events.

Houston ran a school-record 11.50, edging out Coastal Carolina’s Ikeiylah Brown by 0.01 seconds to win the gold. Jessica Thomas ran a season-best 11.77 seconds to finish fourth in the event.

Houston found herself on the podium again in the 200 meter dash, running 23.55 seconds, a personal-best in the event, despite slowing up due to a cramp at the end of the race.  Thomas against finished fourth, running 24.13 seconds, another season-best for the senior.

After a busy weekend with three open events in addition to the heptathlon, Patria Norman finished fourth in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 14.34. In the 5,000 meter run, Tracey Epley ran 23:23.61 to finish 20th overall.

A mere 0.01 seconds separated Amerikorie Odey from the medal stand as she finished fourth in the 400m hurdles, making a surge at the end but coming up fourth with a time of 1:03.15.

The 4x100 meter relay team of Norman, Houston, Brittney Greer and Thomas combined to run 45.74, setting a new facility record while winning the event at the finish line.

In the triple jump, Tamisha Foster led the trio of Lady Buccaneers, finishing fourth overall with a mark of 11.63 meters, by far the best performance by a Buccaneer this season. Deona Jones put down a mark of 10.72 meters, while Sequoya Casey finished at 10.69 meters. Both posting personal bests in the event to finish 11th and 13th, respectively.

In the discus, freshman Breeann Guerra posted a season best as she tossed it 38.62 meters to finish sixth overall. Tia Habersham made it another season-best for CSU, getting the discus out 32.49 meters, almost three full meters better than her previous record.

The Lady Bucs added up 90 points to finish in third place, 17 points clear of Winthrop who finished fourth. Liberty won both the men’s and women’s championships.

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