Lamar Track Heads to Houston for SLC Indoor Championships

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Kasagule and Koenck lead Lamar into conference meet

Feb. 19, 2008

BEAUMONT - The Lamar University track and field teams will head to Houston for the 29th annual Southland Conference indoor track and field championship, held at the Yeoman Field House on the campus of the University of Houston on Friday and Saturday.

Women's Championship

After finishing in fifth place with 84.14 points last year, the Lamar women will try to improve to the top three this year, led by the strong running of senior Clerc Koenck who has had a dominant indoor season.

Koenck, the 2007 women's Southland Conference Indoor Track and Field Athlete of the Year, enters the meet as the conference's top performer in the mile and the 3,000 meter run. She set a new SLC record in the mile run with a 4:41.91 at the Iowa State Classic last weekend and ran the second fastest 3,000 in conference history, posting a time of 9:33.45 in early January.

Joining Koenck amongst the top of the SLC distance runners is senior Renee Graham who has claimed two individual indoor titles in her career.

The defending champion in the 5,000 meter run, Graham enters the meet with the fastest time in the SLC this season, running the fifth fastest time in conference history at 17:00.11 at the Terrier Invitational in Boston, Mass on January 25. She won the title last season with a 17:08.92 performance. She has also run the conference's second fastest 3,000 and mile this spring, posting times of 9:54.05 in the 3,000 and 5:03.75 in the mile.

Karesse Lethermon has also run strong this season, ranking sixth in the SLC in the mile with a 5:16.67 performance at the Leonard Hilton Invitational on January 18.

In the sprints, Jessika Johnson, Megan Bibbs and Adrianne Johnson will look to score in the 60-meter hurdles. Jessika Johnson, who placed fourth, last year, enters the meet tied for the sixth fastest time in the SLC with at 8.89. Bibbs is ranked ninth in the SLC at 8.96 while Adrianne Johnson, who finished in seventh last year, has the 11th fastest time in the conference at 9.10 seconds.

The Lady Cards look to make noise in the 400 meter dash, entering the meet with two of the top five performances in the conference this season. Brittany Pollard, who finished in eighth place a year ago, has the second fastest time this season at 57.22, while Toni Sylvester, who finished in seventh place in 2006, is ranked fifth with a time of 57.65. Freshman Ashley Smith also looks to be a factor, ranking 10th in the SLC with a season-best performance of 58.93.

The Lady Cardinals 4x400 meter relay team will also look to score big points for Lamar, entering the meet with a second fastest time in the SLC. They turned in a school record time of 3:50.17 in Lubbock two weeks ago and will look to duplicate that performance on Saturday.

Men's Championship

Entering the meet, the Lamar men are looking to improve upon their sixth place finish from a year ago. The Cardinals scored 60 points at the 2007 Indoor Championship and are poised to better that mark this season.

Francis Kasagule, who earned the 2007 men's Southland Conference Indoor Track and Field Athlete of the Year award a year ago, leads the Cardinals into the meet with the top times in the SLC in the mile and the 3,000 meter run.

Kasagule set new SLC records in both the mile and 3,000 meter runs this year and has steadily improved his performances as the season has progressed. He ran the first-ever sub eight minute 3,000 in conference history on January 25 when he posted a time of 7:57.40 at the Terrier Invitational in Boston, Mass. He then set the new conference record in the mile with a 4:01.76 performance on February 9 at the Texas Tech Invitational.

Kasagule won't be alone in the mile and the 3,000, as teammates Ewan Simpson and Samuel Kosgei rank among the top performers in the conference in the respective events.

Simpson enters the meet with the third fastest mile in the conference, running a 4:15.42 at the Leonard Hilton Invitational. Last year Simpson turned in a fifth place in the mile with a 4:18.43 performance. He has also has the third fastest 800 meter time in the conference this year, a 1:54.35 which he ran at the Texas Tech Invitational on February 9.

Kosgei enters the meet with the top SLC performance in the 5,000 meter run this season, and the second fastest in conference history at 14:22.97 which he ran at the Terrier Invitational. He is also ranked third in the conference in the 3,000 with a time of 8:21.40.

In the sprints, Michael Gauthier leads the way for Lamar in the 60-meter dash where he has two top-five SLC indoor finishes in his career. He enters the meet tied for the sixth fastest time of the year in the SLC, running a 6.97 at the Houston Invitational on February 2. Gauthier finished in fourth place as a freshman in 2005 with a 6.85 performance and came in fifth place last year with a time of 6.90

Frank Bwambale is also looking to make his mark on the championship meet, as he enters the meet ranking in the top 10 in three different events. He ranks fifth in the 5,000 meter run with a 15:16.95, eighth in the mile a 4:20.40 and ninth in the 3,000 meter run at 8:37.65.

Jerel Massenburge, who has also shown steady improvement throughout the season, will look to pick up points for the Cardinals in the 400 meter run. He enters the meet ranked ninth in the conference with a time of 49.67 seconds. He is one of just nine athletes in the SLC to run a sub-50 second 400 this season.

The men's 4x400 team, which has been improving their time every time they compete, will also look to play a part in helping the teams standing. They enter the meet with the sixth fastest time in the conference, but the second through sixth place ranking are separated by just 1.53 seconds.

Up to the minute results for the SLC Championships can be found at http://www.flashresults.com/flashtexas/slcindoor08/

http://lamarcardinals.cstv.com/sports/w-track/spec-rel/021908aac.html