Wake Track and Field Ready for Two Weekend Meets

4/12/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field

April 12, 2007

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -

The Wake Forest men's and women's track and field teams will split and compete in two meets this weekend. The Sea Ray Relays in Knoxville, Tenn., and the Carolina Fast Times in Chapel Hill, N.C., mark the final meets before the ACC Outdoor Championships the following weekend in College Park, Md.

The one-day Carolina Fast Times begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday with the men's and women's shot put and is scheduled to end at 4:45 p.m. with the men's 4x400-meter relay.

The 41st edition of the Sea Ray Relays, formerly known as the Dogwood Relays, began on Wednesday with the multi-eventers and goes through Saturday at Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium. NC State and Virginia Tech will also be representing the ACC at the highly-regarded event.

Entering the weekend, two Deacs are ranked in the "Dandy Dozen" in their respective events, a power ranking of the top 12 athletes and relay squads in each NCAA event as determined by Trackwire.com. Senior Michelle Sikes is ranked third in the nation in the 5,000-meter run, and junior Michael Bingham comes in at sixth in the 400-meter dash. Sikes' ranking comes despite possessing the fastest time in the 5K in the nation this season (15:47.48).

Nine other Deacons and one relay squad also appear on the nation's performance list in their respective events. Bingham, the only other Deac in the top 10, has the seventh fastest 400-meter time (46.25) while senior Eric Seely is 39th in the 200-meter dash (21.19). Wake's 4x400-meter relay team of Bingham, Seely and freshmen Jonathan Reid and Tyler Dodds comes in at 19th entering the weekend in a time of 3:08.60.

In the field events, senior Michael Hauck's toss of 203-3 in the javelin puts him at 64th in the nation. Competing in his first meet of the year at the Duke Invitational last week, junior Kevin Marion's leaped 24-2 1/2, good for 26th best in the nation.

On the women's side, junior Melissa Council's time of 54.08 in the 400m is good for 28th in the nation, and junior Caitlin Chrisman appears at 32nd in the 5,000m with a time of 16:41.12.

Freshman Caroline Vaughn (100mH) and junior Michelle Duffey (400mH), who each own the school record in their respective events, also appear in the nation's top 40. Vaughn checks in at 35th in a time of 13.73 while Duffey is 40th with a time of 1:00.39.

Additionally, senior Lindsay Neuberger's toss of 48-2 3/4 in the shot put is the 46th longest throw of the year in the country.

Following this weekend's meets, the Deacs will travel to College Park, Md., for the 2007 ACC Outdoor Championships. Wake will be looking to add to its 11 regional qualifiers over the next few weeks in anticipation of the NCAA East Regional Championships on May 25-26 in Gainesville, Fla.

- WakeForestSports.com -