DRC article, women 3rd, men 6th

OldTimer · May 15, 2006

Track & field: UNT women fall to finish third

Mean Green men come in sixth, Smith breaks own javelin mark

08:25 AM CDT on Monday, May 15, 2006

LAFAYETTE, La. — The North Texas women’s track and field team led from start, but was unable to close the deal at the 2006 A*ropostale Sun Belt Track and Field Championships.

The Mean Green women fell to third place in the meet’s final day, finishing with 102.50 championships points. Western Kentucky, who took the SBC Indoor crown in similar fashion, charged on the final day and won with 141.50 points.

The Mean Green men finished sixth with 84 points.

Aside from hauling in six individual conference titles this weekend, The Mean Green also brings home a pair of awards. Brandi Stanfield was voted the Sun Belt’s Freshman of the year for her second-place performance in the long jump.

Heptathlon champion and high jump runner-up Deidra Wesley also earned Women Most Outstanding Field Performer. Wesley picked up the ninth all-conference nod of her distinguished career yesterday.

Heath Smith bettered his own school javelin record by nearly four feet, bringing home his first individual conference championship. The junior’s toss of 196 feet was just short of the NCAA Midwest Regional qualifying mark, but gives him three of the top six throws in school history.

Mark Lee managed a victory in the high jump with his leap of 6-feet-8-/34-inches. The junior, who also took the indoor high jump crown, earns his second outdoor all-conference nod.

The men’s sprint relay team of David Schwein, Ryan Roberson, Brandon Irabor and Johnny Quinn nearly repeated as Sun Belt champions, but was nudged at the line by Middle Tennessee. The Mean Green 4x100-meter relay finished second with a regional qualifying time of 40.30, nine-thousandths of a second faster than last year’s conference winning time.

The Mean Green men and women finished well in the 400-meter dash. Schwein, a two-time all-conference member, earned place with a time of 48.00, while Chi Chi Echebelem crossed the line fourth in 55.16, a second faster than the top North Texas time in 2006.

Arraine McWhinney and Wesley also notched a back-to-back finish in the 100-meter hurdles final. McWhinney, a sophomore, finished fourth with a time of 14.71. The senior finished fifth in 15.27.

The Mean Green qualifiers will now head to the NCAA Regionals on May 26-27. The North Texas men and women have qualified in 10 events for the showdown in Austin.