Men Finish Third, Women Tied for Fifth at the Big South Indoor Track and Field Championships

Nava Sets a New Conference and Championship Record

Blacksburg, Va. -- Radford University's track and field squad competed this weekend in the 2004 Big South Conference Indoor Championships. The men took third place and the women tied for fifth with Charleston Southern University.

The men finished with 96.50 points while the women finished with 53 points just shy seven points from UNC Asheville's fourth place spot of 60 points. On the men's side, Liberty Univeristy claimed the championship title while for the women, Coastal Carolina took a comanding lead over the Liberty women.

Radford's senior Goran Nava (Castello Di Brianza, Italy) captured a victory in the 800 meter run. He set a new conference and championship record with a time of 1:52.58. He also picked up two second place finishes in the one-mile and the 3,000 meter run. In the distance medley Nava ran the achor leg to lead his team to a win. The relay team set a school record of 10:20.44.

In the 400 meter dash junior Jarrell Warthen (Richmond, Va.) came in second with a time of 49.07 behind VMI's Paulvince Obuon who was clocked at 48.89.

Senior sprinter Andre McMillan (Newark, Del.) placed sixth and tenth in the 200 and 60 meter dashes respectively.

In the field events Sophomore Irvin White (Christiansburg, Va.) found a second place spot and set a school record in the men's long jump going the distance of 23'08.25. Also placing sixth in the event was senior Jared Saunders (Christiansburg, Va.) recording a jump of 22'01.50".

In the men's weight throw three Highs finished in the top-ten. Sophomore Brian Richotte (Berkley, Mich.) finished second (54'02.00") while junior TJ Stahl (Vienna, Va) and Jeremiah Spence (Riner, Va.) finished fourth (53'05.50) and sixth (49'11.75") respectively. Richotte also notched eighth place in the men's shot put with a throw of 46'01.50.

Freshman thrower Dilyn Gerber (Camden, Mich.) placed fourth in the shot put event with a distance of 50'06.75".

Freshmen Wayne Odom (Dinwiddle, Va.) and Michael Kondor (Mt. Sidney, Va.) earn forth (14'03.25") and sixth (13'03.50") in the pault vault.

On the women's side, senior sprinter Marika Quarles (Manassas, Va.) placed second in the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 8.90. She fell shy a first place victory by one tenth of a second behind Liberty's Danielle McNaney. Quarles placed third in the 400 meter dash with a time of 57.76.

Freshmen Tara Stirewalt (Terrebone, Ore.) and Maria Geary (Harrisonburg, Va.) both earn a fifth place spot in the 800 meter and the 5,000 meter runs respectively.

In the field sophomore Tricia Coughlin (Penacook, N.H.) had two-top five finishes while setting a school record. She claimed fourth in the pole vault with a record setting height of 9'06.25". In the high jump she placed fifth overall jumping a distance of 5'05.00".

Tiffany Evans (Dumfries, Va.) placed second (46'02.00") and third (55'00.00") respectively in the shot put and the weight throw.

Nava and Coughlin were named to the Big South All-Academic Team.