NAMPA, Idaho - Louisiana Tech's women's team dominated most of the finals races at the 2010 Western Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships Saturday, clinching its fifth WAC title in six years well before the end of the meet at the Jackson Track Facility on the outskirts of Boise.
The 175 points scored by the Lady Techsters is the most scored in school history and the fifth-highest number of points a team has scored in WAC history. For his efforts, Louisiana Tech head coach Gary Stanley was named the Coach of the Year for the 2010 indoor season.
The men's and women's teams combined brought home 10 individual WAC championships and a total of 56 all-conference honors.
"We had a courageous and focused team effort today with Kamelia Stroy battling and everyone running as hard as they could," said Louisiana Tech head coach Gary Stanley, the 2010 WAC Coach of the Year. "I have a lot of pride in this team right now. I was very pleased with the intensity today."
The Lady Techsters mathematically clinched the title after the 800m finals with three events remaining in the meet, despite not having any athlete in the event.
Putting a minimum of four runners in each of the four sprints/hurdles finals on the last day of competition helped; finishing 1-2-3-4-5 in two of those events didn't hurt either. The men's team finished fourth, scoring 101 points, the second-most number of points scored since Tech joined the WAC.
Quanisha Sales was named the Freshman of the Year after becoming a two-time WAC Champion (200m, 4x400m relay) and three-time all-conference athlete (60m, 200m, 4x400m relay) in just her first conference championship meet.
Al Fullwood was named the Track Performer of the Year after winning the 200m with a time of 21.25 and the 400m with a time of 48.04. Fullwood was also a member of the WAC Champion 4x400m relay team, running the anchor leg.
n both the 60m dash and the 400m, Louisiana Tech finished 1-2-3-4-5 as the Lady Techsters racked up points in the sprints. Chasidee Lewis-Baker won the 60m dash for the third consecutive year, running the same 7.51 time that won her the event last year. Antoinette Cobb was barely edged out by Lewis-Baker, running 7.52, finishing second while Sales finished third, running 7.56. Rakeisha Green, running 7.696, and Nancy Shelton, with a time of 7.700, finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
In the 400m, Monique Wright led the way for the Lady Techsters with a time of 54.46, only six-hundredths of a second away from an NCAA Provisional Qualifying time. Kamelia Stroy finished second, running 54.70, despite having a stomach virus which kept her on an IV until 30 minutes leading up to the race. Lashannda Worthy placed third with a time of 56.05 while Stacia Hanneman, with a time of 56.69, and Shante Benion, running 56.82, rounded out the top five for Louisiana Tech.
Antoinette Cobb won her second consecutive 60m hurdles title with a school record time of 8.28. Running the fastest time of any WAC runner this season, Cobb now holds the seven-fastest times in the conference this year in the 60m hurdles. She broke the old record of 8.32 set by Bridgette Ladouceur in 2004. Having run the two fastest times in the WAC by anyone not named Antoinette Cobb, Tiana Davis finished second with a time of 8.47. Jesseka Jones garnered all-conference honors by finishing sixth with a time of 8.77.
The Lady Techster domination was not limited to the sprints and hurdles, but extended to the jumps as well. Quatisha Williams, coming off a second place performance in the long jump on Friday, won the triple jump Saturday with a mark of 40' 4.25" while Brittany Guy finished third with a jump of 39' 9.25". Sapphira Brown earned second team all-WAC honors as she finished fourth with a jump of 39' 5.25" while Markeva Daye placed seventh, jumping 37' 7.75" and scoring two points for Tech.
The women's team was not the only Louisianans to dominate the sprints as the men's team finished 1-2-4-5 in the 200m and 1-2-3 in the 400m. Fullwood won both races with Kevin Stewart finishing second in the 200m, running 21.56. Terry Carter, a two-sport athlete for the Bulldogs, finished fourth in the 200m with a time of 21.78 while Josh Goree followed with a time of 21.98. In the 400m, Demonte Willis earned all-conference honors by placing second with a time of 48.74.
For the third consecutive year, a Louisiana Tech athlete has won the 60m dash title on the men's side as Billy Ray Walker ran a personal-best time of 7.92 in the finals to win the conference crown. James Carter, II finished fifth with a time of 8.13.
Capping off the day was a sweep in the 4x400m relays, leading off with the women running 3:44.85. The team of Monique Wright, Shante Benion,Quanisha Sales and Lashannda Worthy never trailed throughout the entire race.
"You always like to win the last two events of the day, the men's and women's 4x400m relays," said Stanley. "Our women already had the meet won and they could have coasted, but they pushed as hard as they could. I am thrilled for our young ladies."
The men's relay team of Demonte Willis, Wade MaGaha, Marcelles Atkinson and Al Fullwood trailed early on, but finished strong to win the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:15.62.
For complete coverage of Louisiana Tech Track and Field, please visit the official home of Louisiana Tech Athletics at LATechSports.com.