The Buccaneer men’s and women’s track and field teams will compete in the Southern Conference Indoor Champion-ships on Friday and Saturday at Memorial Center.
The women’s team comes into the meet with several top-ranked athletes in their respective events, including freshman Chantelle Vernon and seniors Jennifer Howard and Roseline Addo.
Vernon leads the conference rankings in the 55-meter dash with her time of 6.90 seconds. Howard comes into the meet with the conference’s best time in the 400m (57.35) and has been the runner-up in the past two indoor and outdoor championships. Howard is also ranked sixth in the 200m (25.63).
Addo, the defending champion in the 400m in the past two indoor and outdoor championships, leads the conference rankings in the 800m with her time of 2 minutes and 11.26 seconds. Her time is over four seconds faster than the rest of the field.
The Lady Bucs also have top-10 rankings from senior Lauren Campbell, ranked fifth in the mile (5:19.48), and sophomore Cheryl Howard, ninth in the high jump (5 feet and .25 inches).
The women have also recorded the fastest 4×400-meter relay team in the conference (3:51.84), an event in which they are the defending champions.
The men’s lone top-ranked individual is junior Charvin Clark in the long jump (23’7.5″), but they have numerous top-10 rankings.
Senior Josh Artau comes into the SoCon championships with the second best throw in the conference in the shot put (51’9″) with sophomore Kaylin Chesney ranking fourth in the 55-meter hurdles (7.98).
Also ranking fourth in his event is freshman James Grufferty in the 3000m run (8:37.54).
Fellow distance runner Brad Yewer also comes into the meet with a couple of top-10 rankings.
Yewer ranks sixth in both the mile (4:17.87) and 3000m (8:40.51) and fifth in the 800m (1:57.00), but will not contest the 800m at the conference championships.
Sophomore Rhett Ezzell comes into Friday’s conference championships with a sixth place ranking in his event (high jump, 6’2″) while sophomore David Cabbler is ranked in the top-10 in the 400m (ninth, 50.44).
The meet begins on Friday with the women’s 3000m at 2:30 p.m. and continues on Saturday with the first event being the men’s 35 lbs. weight throw at 9 a.m.

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