University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Men Place Second at SBC Indoor Track Championships
2/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Men Place Second at SBC Indoor Track Championships
Sunday, Feb. 29, 2004
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns track and field team came up just 12 points shy of winning its first Sun Belt indoor title in seven years as the men's team finished runner-up to pre-championship favorite Middle Tennessee.
The Ragin' Cajun men finished second with 112 points, trailing only Middle Tennessee (124), and ahead of third place Western Kentucky (97) and fourth place South Alabama (70). The Louisiana-Lafayette women's team placed seventh overall with 38 total points.
Louisiana-Lafayette
triple jump standout Lawrence Willis capped an
impressive weekend by winning his third consecutive Sun
Belt triple jump title with a mark of 53-07.75, his
third longest jump of the season.
Willis was named Men's Outstanding Field Performer and Men's Top Point Scorer after earning 23 points in three field events. He won both the long jump and triple jump titles along with a sixth place finish in the high jump.
Sprinter Jon-Erik Shanklin had a season best time in the 400-meter dash with second place finish of 47.71 seconds. Kade Slaughter also clocked a season-best time in the 200-meter dash with a fourth place finish mark of 21.70.
Senior vaulter Scott Lowry finished second overall in the pole vault after tying his personal best height of 14-05.25 in the event.
Both the Ragin' Cajun men's distance medley and 4x400 relay teams finished fourth overall.
In just
his second season at the helm of the Ragin' Cajuns
track
and field program head coach Lance Veazey was
named 2004 Sun Belt Conference Men's Indoor Coach of the Year.
Veazey's honor is the first since the late Charles Lancon won the award in 1996. Lancon also was awarded men's outdoor coach of the year honors from 1996-1998, along with the women's outdoor honor in 1997.
On the women's side senior distance standout Natalie Gillis concluded an outstanding meet with a second place finish in the 5,000-meter run and a fourth place finish in the mile run. Her time of 18:04.37 in the 5,000-meter run established a new UL Lafayette team record. It was her second record setting mark of the weekend following another team record of 10:09.38 in Saturday's 3,000-meter run.
Middle Tennessee swept both the men and women's team titles for the fourth straight year.
MEN'S STANDINGS
1 Middle Tennessee 124
2 Louisiana 112
3 Western Kentucky 97
4 South Alabama 70
5 North Texas 61
6 Arkansas-Little Rock 60
7 Arkansas State 45
8 New Orleans 30
9 Florida International 24
WOMEN'S
STANDINGS
1 Middle Tennessee 124
2
North Texas 99.5
3 South Alabama 87
4 Florida International 84
5 Western Kentucky 81
6 New Mexico State 54.5
7 Louisiana 38
8 Arkansas State 29
9 New Orleans 16
10 Arkansas-Little Rock 11
Men's Team champion -
Middle Tennessee
Men's Team runner-up - Louisiana
Men's Outstanding Track Performer - Mardy Scales, Middle
Tennessee
Men's Outstanding Field Performer - Lawrence
Willis, Louisiana
Men's Top Point Scorer - Lawrence Willis,
Louisiana
Men's Coach of the Year - Lance Veazey, Louisiana
Women's Team champion
- Middle Tennessee
Women's Team runner-up - North Texas
Women's Outstanding Track Performer - Jessica Schmidt,
North Texas
Women's Outstanding Field Performer - Linda Louissaint,
FIU
Women's Top Point Scorer - Jessica Schmidt, North Texas
Women's Coach of the Year - Dean Hayes, Middle Tennessee
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
