The Men’s and Women’s Track and Field teams opened up their outdoor season this past weekend with several tremendous individual performances at the Western Carolina Invitational.
“It was an excellent way to open the outdoor season,” Track and Field Coach Matt High said. “There were some great performances, (and) some people that haven’t stepped up this year stepped up at this meet.”
The men’s squad received strong performances from Josh Artau, as he competed in all four throwing events.
Artau won the shot put, with a throw of 46 feet, 1.5 inches, and the hammer throw (134’11”).
He also finished second in the javelin throw (185’09”) and fourth in the discus throw (126’02”).
“Josh Artau did well in the throwing events,” High said. “He did excellent in the javelin.”
The Bucs also got a first place finish from Jason Farr in the high jump with a jump of 6 feet and six inches.
Farr, who won the Southern Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships in the high jump, has been working hard and could be a contender to qualify for the NCAA Championships, High said.
“He’s been looking really good,” he said. “He’s someone (that if he) gets his steps down, (and) going right he has a good shot at qualifying for nationals.”
“He’s had a wave of confidence since the conference championships,” High said.
Evan Hawkins also competed well for the Bucs, finishing fourth in the 800-meter run (1 minute 59.42 seconds), stepping out of his specialty the 400-meter dash.
The Bucs also received solid efforts from Michael May in the 400-meter dash (49.92 seconds), in which he finished second, and from Andrew Whitson, who competed in six events as he is preparing for the rigors of competing in the decathlon at the outdoor conference championships.
Whitson, who won the 2000 conference championship in the decathlon, tied with Farr for first place in the high jump (6’06”), finished fifth in the javelin throw (145’11”), sixth in the shot put ((35’06.75″), 11th in the discus throw (105’02”), 20th in the 100-meter dash (11.82 seconds) and ran a leg on the Bucs winning 4×400-meter relay team.
Distance runner Greg Sprowl also had a busy day for the Bucs, doubling in the 1,500 (4:12.86) and 3,000 (9:14.22) meter runs, finishing eighth and fourth respectively as he prepares for the 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs at the conference championships.
“We’re still in training phase,” High said. “Most everyone is training through these meets, the ultimate goal for most of them is the conference meet.”
The Lady Bucs also received some great performances from many of their athletes at Western Carolina.
Lauren Campbell finished in first place in the 1500-meter run (4:47.70), with teammate Emily Campbell finishing right behind her in third place (4:53.41). Both will be relied upon to score points for the Lady Bucs at the outdoor conference championships.
The Lady Buc jumpers also came through at Western Carolina with Kristin Truman finishing first in the triple jump (36’02.25″), Tiffany Collier finishing second (35’08”) in the triple jump and Cheryl Howard taking second place in the high jump (5’02.50″).
“Kristin Truman did an excellent job in the triple jump,” High said. “She’s coming around along with Cheryl and Brooke (Deacon).”
“The jumpers are finally coming around, getting their steps down and getting better each week,” he said.
The 400-meter duo of Roseline Addo and Jennifer Howard stepped out of their specialty into the 800-meter run and finished second and third, respectively, in times of 2:13.16 and 2:20.99.
Addo, who has won the past three conference championships in the 400-meter dash and also finished 14th at the conference cross country championships, has shown she has good speed and endurance and may look to the 800-meter run in the future.
“I think her race is the 800,” High said. “She’s really inexperienced in (the 800), she doesn’t know how to race it and make moves (yet).”
“You have to be on pace in the 800; you can’t be erratic,” he said. “She went out (the first lap) in 61 (seconds) and I wanted her to go out in 64 and she kind of paid for it on the second lap.”
Both squads will be back in action this weekend at the Clemson Relays.

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