Thursday, March 9 – Saturday, March 11, 2006,
ETSU Dome, Johnson City, Tn.
Virginia Intermont College's men's and women's track teams will be competing for national honors this weekend on the campus of East Tennessee State University. The Cobras will be challenging for the national championship team title after taking the runner-up spot last year. Intermont's women's squad looks to make some noise nationally and will be looking for a Top 25 national team finish.
Team Competition: Defending national champions Lindewood will again be tough with the largest number of individual participants. Perrennial powers Azusa Pacific and Oklahoma Baptist will also contend while three-time outdoor champions Dickinson State can not be ruled out either.
Men's 60-meters: Sophomore Pat Small currently ranks #4 in the 60 and hopes to make the finals earning essential points and the Cobras first All-American in the short sprint after sitting out the 2005 season. (Prelims Fri. @ 1:50pm w/ Semis @ 4:00pm / Finals Sat. @ 1:25pm)
Men's 200-meters: VIC has qualified the trio of Desmond Brown (#3), Pat Small (#8) and Devin Carr (#9) for the 200m. Eight runners advance to the finals with the Cobras hoping that all three will secure point scoring and All-American spots in the top 6 positions. (Prelims Fri. @ 6:20pm / Finals Sat. @ 2:40pm)
Men's 600-meters: Sophomore Elkana Chepsiror was the 2005 800m national champion both indoors and outdoors, but with his national leading 600m mark of 1:16.99, has opted for the shorter event where he is the favorite. (Prelims Fri. @3:35pm / Finals Sat. @ 1:10pm)
Men's 800-meters: VIC's Jason Lewis, All-American last year in the 600m, and Michael Webley look to improve from their rankings of 14th and 22nd, respectively, and make the 8-man final in order to score some wild car points for the Cobras and All-American honors for themselves. (Prelims Fri. @ 4:25pm / Finals Sat. @ 1:35pm)
Men's 1000-meters: Corey Duquette surprised the fields last year in both the indoor mile and the outdoor 1500m with his wins and hopes to do the same in an event that features the toughest competition. Duquette is currently ranked 2nd behind Azusa Pacific's Tim Ramirez and just ahead of Oklahoma Baptist's Landon Willets. VI's Russell Neff will also be in the hunt for points with his #5 ranking. (Prelims Fri. @ 4:55pm / Finals Sat. @ 1:55pm)
Men's Mile Run: Switching events seems to be common with the VIC runners, and 2005 3k champion Fernando Cabada is no different as he'll be going for his sixth national title, this time in the Mile Run. Cabada ranks 1st in the Mile with Russell Neff 4th. (Prelims Fri. @ 2:20pm / Finals Sat. @ 12:35pm)
Men's 3000-meters: VIC's David Cheromei, the 2005 5k champion, moves down to try for a title in the 3k as he is seeded with the fastest time. The 3k could be a big point event for the Cobras as five runners are qualified including Ondrej Puskar (#4); Alvin Charles (#10); Ricky Cuevas (#14) and Matt Neff (#16). VIC's first goal is to qualify as many as possible for the 12-man final and then go for the top 6 places. (Prelims Fri. @ 5:40pm / Finals Sat. @ 2:20pm)
Men's 5000-meters: Many were surprised at Intermont's conservative approach of not doubling or tripling fast runners, but the 5k is where that practice stops. VIC has five qualifiers including two-event list leader Fernando Cabada and list runner-up David Cheromei. The Cobras add #3 ranked Jeremy Cadle, #6 Ondrej Puskar and #17 Jesus Chavez. (Prelims Fri. @ 7:15pm / Finals Sat. @ 3:10pm)
Men's 3,000-meter Race Walk: While VIC's Mudasar Haidat is better known for his freshman year runner-up finish in the NAIA marathon, he has secured a national qualifying mark in the Race Walk, an event that he is new to. He currently ranks 9th and hopes to move up into the top 6 scoring positions (Finals Fri. @ 12:35pm)
Men's 4x400 Relay: While VIC is only ranked 6th in this event, the strong and fresh team of Desmond Brown, Devin Carr, freshman Chris Moon and Elkana Chepsiror, once qualified for the finals, will look to surprise some teams. The team battle may come down to this last event with all four top programs, Azusa, Lindenwood, VIC and Oklahoma Baptist, poised for a great race. (Prelims Thu. @ 6:15pm / Finals Sat. @ 4:15pm)
Men's 4x800 Relay: VIC is the defending champions and top seed in this event but will face stiff competition from a fast Azusa squad. While the prelim foursome may be altered from the planned Duquette-Russ Neff-Lewis-Cadle group, the finals team will be VIC's best with Duquette-Lewis-Neff-Cabada. (Prelims Thu. @ 5:15pm / Finals Fri. @ 8:05pm)
Men's Distance Medley Relay: Again, VIC is set to defend its 2005 title in the relay and will depend on the group of Puskar-Casey Kreger-Webley-Cabada to qualify for the finals, and looks to Cabada-Kreger-Lewis-Duquette to defend. (Prelims Thu. @ 7:15pm / Finals Sat. @ 3:50pm)
Women's 60-meters: Natosca Josephs makes here first national appearance for VIC being ranked 21st in the event. A good day could have her qualify for the finals. (Prelims Fri. @ 1:35pm w/ Semis @ 3:50pm / Finals Sat. @ 1:20pm)
Women's Long Jump: VIC's only field event qualifier, Josephs, in only her second year in the event, looks to make some noise. She is currently ranked 11th and has her eyes on an All-American award. (Prelim and Finals Fri. @ 2:45pm)
Women's 1000-meters: Renata Volf currently ranks 10th in this event and hopes to get into the top six after finishing 7th in the 3k last year as a freshman. (Prelims Fri. @ 4:40pm / Finals Sat. @ 1:45pm)
Women's Mile Run: Volf, ranked 10th here too, will be doubling back in the Mile, but fortunately was spared the trouble of running Prelims as the event will go straight to the final. (Final Sat. @ 12:25pm)
Women's 3,000-meters: Teresa Ayers, ranked 11th, looks to earn her first All-American honors after retiring from soccer to pursue distance running (Prelims Fri. @ 5:10pm / Finals Sat. @ 2:05pm)
Women's 3,000-meter Race Walk: The walk could be a big point event for the Lady Cobras as freshman Amanda Gorst is ranked #1 with teammates Alex Lo 5th and Raven Pilgrim 7th. (Final Fri. @ 12:10pm)
Other notes:
National Qualifiers: VIC has qualifiers this year in every running event, except the 400.
Records: 2005 saw Virginia Intermont post the second most individual championships in one year with six (800, mile, 3k, 5k, 4x800, dmr). The current record is seven, set by Oklahoma Baptist in 1996. The Cobras may be poised to tie or even break this impressive record as they currently lead six events (600, mile, 3k, 5k, 4x800, dmr). Other records that could be eclipsed are:
Men's 600m (1:17.92) – VIC's Elkana Chepsiror currently leads the NAIA at 1:16.99
Men's 1000m (2:24.97) – Corey Duquette ranks #1 with 2:24.35
Men's Mile (4:03.88) – Fernando Cabada has posted the season's best at 4:05.32
Men's 5000m (13:52.15) – Fernando Cabada has posted the fastest time this season at 13:49.87 followed by David Cheromei's 13:59.89.
Women's 3k Race Walk (13:56.06) – Freshman Amanda Gorst has posted the top time of 14:14.21.