In 1978, East Tennessee State University left the Ohio Valley Conference and joined the Southern Conference. And this weekend, 27 years later, the ETSU track team will be participating in its last SoCon championship meet, because next year the school will be joining the Atlantic Sun Conference.
In 1980, two years after joining the conference, ETSU’s men’s track team won the championship.
ETSU has left its mark on the SoCon.
Ray Flynn, one of ETSU’s famed milers, set two records during the meet, one in the mile and one in the 1,500 meter. The records have yet to be broken.
The men’s team did not win another championship until 1998, but did set six more conference records.
ETSU’s women’s track team did not participate in the conference until 1988. Since then the team has placed in the top three six times and has won the championship once, in 1995. Two of ETSU’s women track runners have set records since then.
Beginning in 1979, ETSU has had 10 runners be named Outstanding Performer. In addition to that, Bradley Yewer was named Outstanding Track Performer in 2003 and 2004.
Dave Walker, coach of ETSU’s track and field team and four-time recipient of the SoCon Coach-of-the-Year award, says there will not be any major changes because of the new conference.
The track team will still be competing against the same schools. The only major difference is with the championship.
“The indoor championship is always going to be held here,” Walker said. “There are no other indoor facilities in the [Atlantic Sun] conference.”
The Bucs’ will look for strong performances from sprinters Chantelle Vernon and James Rainer in the 60-meter dash.
ETSU will be host SoCon championship in the Memorial Center this weekend. The events begin on Friday and Saturday at 8:30 a.m.

Author