Feb. 14, 2002

NACOGDOCHES - The Stephen F. Austin men's and women's track and field teams return to action Friday at the Southland Conference Indoor Championships in Houston, Texas. The championships are a two-day meet that will run through Saturday afternoon. The action gets underway Friday with the pentathlon. The first event will be the men's 60-meter hurdles at 9 a.m. The field events will start at 3 p.m., with the men's long jump. The action will resume Saturday at noon with the men's shot put finals. The track events Saturday will get started at 1:30 p.m., with the women's 60m-hurdle finals.

The Lumberjack Leaderboard Seniors Adam Keul and JW Potter lead a Lumberjack team that has been ranked as high as 19th (Trackwire.com Top 25 poll) nationally. Keul enters the meet as the league's top pole vaulter with his mark of 17 feet, eight inches, which also places him seventh nationally. Potter currently owns the league's best time in the 800m with his 1:54.25. Other Lumberjacks that are among the SLC leaders are freshman Jonathan James and sophomore Alex Beckworth in the 60m hurdles. James is currently eighth in the league with a time of 8.31 and Beckworth is ninth with a time of 8.32. Freshman Darryl Williams is 10th in the league with his 50.11 in the 400m. Sophomore Nathan Flores is second in the 3,000m (8:30.0). The Lumberjacks 1,600m-relay team is seventh in the league (3:21.56) while the distance medley relay team has sported the league's second-best time, 10:25.75. Junior Paul Todd owns the leagues' second-best mark in the high jump (6-11.00). Senior Matt Seale is also among the SLC leaders in the high jump with his mark of 6-5.00 (ninth). Freshman Andre Ford is currently fifth in the conference with his mark of 48-4.50 in the triple jump. Sophomore Ryan Rossner and freshman Matt Hoelscher are currently ninth (51-0.25) and 10th (50-2.00), respectively, in the shot put.

The Ladyjack Leaderboard Seniors Misty Ballard-Swan and Destine Rawls lead a talented Ladyjack squad into the SLC indoor championships. Ballard-Swan sits atop the SLC pole-vault standings with her mark of 12-7.50, which also places her 31st in the country. Rawls owns the league's second-best mark in the shot put with her school record 50-9.25. She is currently 23rd in the country with that throw. Other Ladyjacks that appear in the league's top 10 are junior Blake Gordon, who is third in the shot put with her toss of 48-8.75. Freshman Jocelyn Stevens is sixth in the 60m hurdles (8.85) and eighth in the 400m (59.02). Senior Tan Morris is currently sixth in the 200m (25.44). Junior Mashay Utley is fourth in the SLC with her time of 58.34. Junior Melanie Pate is eighth in the 800m (2:21.37). The Ladyjacks 1,600m-relay team is fourth in the league (3:58.21). Stevens and freshman Teresa Murray are tied for fifth in the high jump with their mark of 5-5.75. Junior Jessica Claiborne is fifth in the long jump (19-1.50) and triple jump (39-8.75), while freshman Shametra Boykins is ninth in the triple jump (39-1.00). Sophomore Jennifer Schreiner is fourth in the pole vault (9-8.00) while junior Lauren Hunt is 10th (9-0.25).