The Book: 2003-04 Track & Field

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NATCHITOCHES, LA. - Louisiana’s Lady’ Cajuns cross country team won it’s first title since the 2001 season as the women took first place in the 5K Northwestern State Invitational here from the Demon Hills Golf Course.

The Lady Cajuns finished with 42 points overall in the seven-team race, eight points ahead of second place Northwestern State.

Senior Natalie Gillis won the individual title by an impressive 38-second margin with a time of 19:27.47. It was the first win of Gillis’s career and gives her three top ten finishes in three races this season.

Lady Cajuns junior Jennifer Gautreaux finished in third place overall and recorded her best 5K result at UL with a time of 20:07.88. Sophomore Stacey Enright (21:06.76) rounded out the top ten for the Lady Cajuns with a tenth place finish.

Other Lady Cajun notables include sophomore Leah Legere (21:18.06) with an 11th place finish, junior Laura Zaunbrecher (21:50.54) in 17th place, junior Dusty Martin (22:08.34) in 19th place, and freshman Jenna Clement (22:52.74) finishing 24th overall.

The Ragin' Cajuns finished second overall in the men’s 8,400meter race. The Cajuns finished with 75 points total, 22 points behind first place Louisiana Tech.

Sophomore Justin Lemaire (28:13.31) was the top finisher for the Cajuns in 10th place overall. Senior Nick Bouterie (28:18.18) finished just five seconds behind Lemaire in the 11th spot.

Juniors Ryan Dupree (28:33.76) and Chad Campbell (28:49.24) rounded out the top 20 for UL by placing 14th and 17th overall.

Other notable men’s runners for the Cajuns included freshman Daniel Hebert (29:24.07) in 23rd place, freshman Ben Schexnayder III (29:41.04), and senior Nick Meaux (30:58.53) finishing 32nd overall.

“The women obviously had some really good performances, despite missing two of our top five runners,” stated coach Tim Lemaire. “The guys ran really well on a long course and overall I was really pleased with their performance as well.”

“We’re improving every race and hopefully we can continue to improve heading into the Sun Belt Conference meet in November.”

Louisiana's men’s and women’s teams will both have a week off before traveling to Fayetteville, Arkansas to compete in the Chili Pepper Invitational on Saturday, October 18th.

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NSU Invitational

Women, 5K
1) Louisiana (42)
2) Northwestern State (50)
3) Grambling (83)
4) UL Monroe (88)
5) Southern (113)
6) East Texas Baptist (158)
7) Louisiana College (170)

Men, 8400 meters
1) Louisiana Tech (43)
2) Louisiana (75)
3) Northwestern State (86)
4) UL Monroe (123)
5) Grambling (129)
6) Southern (143)
7) East Texas Baptist (240)
8) SFA (No Score)

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Shanklin, Young Highlight Top Cajun Performances in Baton Rouge

BATON ROUGE- Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns track and field team competed for the second consecutive week at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse Friday night in the 2004 LSU Bayou Bengal Invitational.

UL placed nine competitors in the top five, while winning two event titles against the ten-team field made up of in-state rivals LSU, Louisiana Tech, McNeese State, Nicholls State, Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana, and UL Monroe. Out of state schools Texas A&M, Southern Miss, and Stephen F. Austin rounded out the competition.

Ragin’ Cajuns junior Jon Erik Shanklin won the men’s 400-meter dash title with a winning time of 48.87.

“Jon-Erik ran really well in his first open 400-meter indoor race for us,” stated UL head coach Lance Veazey. “Even more impressive was that he did it at a really good place like LSU.”

Sprinters Jarvis Murchison and Kade Slaughter both qualified for the 60-meter dash finals and matched each other with a finals time of 6.93 to finish tied for fourth overall. Slaughter also placed second in the men’s 200-meter dash with a time of 22.35 seconds.

Port Barre, La., native and senior Lawrence Leben led the team in the 60-meter hurdles by qualifying for the finals and finishing tied for fourth overall with a personal best mark of 8.07.

On the women’s side senior sprinter Stacey Young won her second straight 800-meter race in a time of 2:19.65, breaking her previous best mark by over three seconds.

Distance standout Natalie Gillis finished just one second shy of a new Cajun record in the 3,000-meter run to finish 2nd overall with a time of 10:18.88.

“We have two weeks now to heal up and work towards the final few meets of the season,” stated Veazey. “This was a good indicator of where we stand after three meets and now we can work towards improving for the Conference Championships.”

The Ragin’ Cajuns will have a two-week break before returning to action at the LSU Twilight on Friday Feb. 20.

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BATON ROUGE — University of Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajun track and field team competed for the second consecutive week at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse Friday night in the 2004 LSU Bayou Bengal Invitational.

UL placed nine competitors in the top five, while winning two event titles against the 10-team field made up of in-state rivals LSU, Louisiana Tech, McNeese State, Nicholls State, Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana, and UL Monroe. Out of state schools Texas A&M, Southern Miss, and S.F. Austin rounded out the competition.

Ragin’ Cajuns junior Jon- Erik Shanklin won the men’s 400-meter dash title with a winning time of 48.87.

“Jon-Erik ran really well in his first open 400-meter indoor race for us,” UL coach Lance Veazey said. “Even more impressive was that he did it at a really good place like LSU.”

Sprinters Jarvis Murchison and Kade Slaughter both qualified for the 60-meter dash finals and matched each other with a finals time of 6.93 to finish tied for fourth overall. Slaughter also placed second in the men’s 200-meter dash with a time of 22.35 seconds.

Port Barre native and senior Lawrence Leben led the team in the 60-meter hurdles by qualifying for the finals and finishing tied for fourth overall with a personal best mark of 8.07.

On the women’s side, senior sprinter Stacey Young won her second straight 800-meter race in a time of 2:19.65, breaking her previous best mark by over three seconds.

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What is the name of that triple jump UL kid? He is good!

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Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns exceeded expectations at the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships over the weekend, and coach Lance Veazey was named Men’s Coach of the Year in recognition of that performance.

Veazey’s Cajuns were picked to finish fourth in men’s competition in Murfreesboro, Tenn., but they took that two steps higher with a runner-up spot behind four-time champion and host Middle Tennessee.

The Blue Raiders totalled 124 points, wrapping it up with a victorious 3:10.15 time in the concluding 4x400 relay, while the Cajuns scored 112.

“It was a shock to be named coach of the year, it really was,” Veazey said. “Usually, the winning coach always wins that honor.

“I think we got everything we could out of them. We got their best effort in every event. They gave us everything they had, and I couldn’t have asked for more.”

UL’s showing was led by Outstanding Field Performer Lawrence Willis, who won the long jump on Saturday and came back with a triumphant 53-5.75 in capturing the triple jump on Sunday.

Willis led a 1-2-5, 22-point effort in that one event, as teammate Lawrence Leben was second (49-5.75) and Kenny Minton came in fifth with a 47-0.75 best jump.

“Lawrence had a tremendous meet for us,” Veazey said. “We figured those guys would score points for us in the triple. Leben is a hurdler, and we knew he could jump.”

Other keys for the Cajuns were Scott Lowry’s surprising second-place 14-5.25 in the pole vault, trailing only South Alabama’s Brandon Oliver (14-11), as well as Jon-Erik Shanklin’s runner-up, indoor personal-best 47.71 in the 400, beaten only by the 47.25 of MT’s Sean Waller.

“Scott got us big points in the pole vault, a couple more than we expected,” Veazey said. “And Greg Hensgens was fourth in the weight throw. We had 70 points in the field before we got on the track.

“And Walter Whitfield (3rd in the 5,000, 15:22.99) ran well. He had a big meet.”

Also for the Cajun men, Kade Slaughter was fourth in the 200 (21.70), the 4x400 relay was fourth (3:19.13), Leben was fifth in the 55 hurdles (7.50) and sixth-place finishes came from Moses Rugu (mile) and Justin Lemaire (5,000).

Cajun women placed seventh in the meet, won by Middle Tennessee with 114 points, but Natalie Gillis ran second in Sunday’s 5,000 (18:04.37) to go with Saturday’s fourth place in the 3,000.

Gillis also had an indoor personal-best 5:11.41 for fourth in the mile.

“Natalie was kind of wasted after the mile,” Veazey said. “She was in the fast heat of the 5,000, and the girl who won (Jessica Schmidt of North Texas, 17:25.91) was in the slow heat because she didn’t have a previous time in the event. Natalie had a great meet.”

UL got a fifth-place 2:19.96 in the 800 from Stacey Young and sixth places from Jennifer Gautreaux (mile) and Kim Octave (55 hurdles).

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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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Sun Belt Indoors Championships

Men’s Team champion — Middle Tennessee

Men’s Team runner-up — UL Lafayette

Men’s Outstanding Track Performer — Mardy Scales, MT

Men’s Outstanding Field Performer — Lawrence Willis, UL Lafayette

Men’s Top Point Scorer — Lawrence Willis, UL Lafayette 23 points

Men’s Coach of the Year — Lance Veazey, UL Lafayette

Women’s Team champion — Middle Tennessee

Women’s Team runner-up — North Texas

Women’s Outstanding Track Performer — Jessica Schmidt, NT

Women’s Outstanding Field Performer — Linda Louissaint, FIU

Women’s Top Point Scorer — Jessica Schmidt, NT

Women’s Coach of the Year — Dean Hayes, MT

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Ragin' Cajuns finish seventh, LAdy Cajuns sixth in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS - Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns track and field team opened the 2004 outdoor season with ten top five finishes at the UNO Invitational Saturday afternoon in New Orleans.

The LAdy Cajuns finished sixth overall with 54 total points highlighted by three top ten finishes in the 1,500-meter run, including a one-two finish by seniors Analise Zaunbrecher and Natalie Gillis.

Zaunbrecher finished in a winning time of 4:42.72 with Gillis following closely behind with a second place mark of 4:44.47. Jennifer Gautreaux finished seventh as the Cajuns earned 20 combined points in the event.

Sprinters Kim Octave and Darnesha Stonum claimed fourth and fifth place finishes in the 100-meter hurdles to earn nine points together. Andree Bonvillian finished second in the pole vault with a vault of 10-00.00, while Amanda Caffey claimed third in the javelin throw with a distance 144-00.

The men’s team earned 54 points to finish seventh overall led by several top five finishes, two of which were earned by junior hurdler Lawrence Leben. Leben placed fourth in the 400-meter hurdles in 54.42 and fifth in the 110-meter hurdles in 14.78.

Jeremy Hebert and Kenny Minton led the team in the field events as Hebert placed third in the high jump with a mark of 6-04.75 and Minton second in the triple jump at 45-09.25.

The Ragin’ Cajuns will travel to Mobile to participate in the South Alabama Invitational next Saturday.

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MOBILE, Ala. — Louisiana’s track and field team makes its second outdoor appearance of the 2004 season today when the Cajuns join 11 other teams in the second annual Jaguar Premier Meet hosted by South Alabama.

Events begin at 9 a.m. with the hammer, and running events begin at 10:30 a.m. for a field that includes Alcorn State, Auburn, Calvin College, Drury, Mississippi Valley, University of Mobile, Nicholls State, Toronto, West Florida and Wright State in addition to the Cajuns and the host Jaguar squad.

The Cajuns sent a partial team to last Saturday’s UNO Invitational in New Orleans on the same day that Lawrence Willis finished fourth in the triple jump in the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark.

Willis had a personal-best 54-4 effort in that meet, and the rest of the Cajun squad was led in New Orleans by the 1-2 finish of Analise Zaunbrecher (4:42.72) and Natalie Gillis (4: 44.47) in the women’s 1500-meter. As a team, UL Lafayette was sixth of 13 women’s teams with 54 points and seventh of 15 men’s team with 54.

“We did a lot of conditioning work that first week,” said Cajun coach Lance Veazey.

“We didn’t really rest through the week, so our performances were about what I expected. I know we can do better this week.

“We’ve heard some good things about their track, so we’re going to go over there and see how we’ll do.”

Kenny Minton (triple jump, 45-9 1/4) and Andre Bonvillain (women’s pole vault, 10-0) had second-place finishes and Jeremy Hebert (high jump, 6-4 3/4), the men’s 4x100 relay (41.55) and Amanda Caffey (women’s javelin, 144-0) had third places in the UNO meet.

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MOBILE, Ala. — Louisiana’s track and field team captured three event titles along with 12 top five finishes, highlighted by an NCAA regional qualifying mark Saturday at the 2004 Jaguar Premier.

Seniors Lawrence Leben and Jeremy Hebert both captured event titles to lead the men’s team. Leben set an NCAA regional qualifying mark in the 110 hurdles with a time of 14.23. Hebert won the men’s high jump title with a height of 6-08.00.

Other top marks for the men’s team included Walter Whitfield (9:25.23) who placed second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, a fourth by Kade Slaughter (21.42) in the 200, and a fourth by Scott Lowry (14-06.00) in the pole vault.

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