James Nix - Club Sports

The Appalachian State University men's Club Ski team finished their regular season this past weekend in third place in the Southeastern Conference and a spot in the United States Collegiate Snowsport Association (USCSA) Regional Competition.

The race was held at Beech Mountain, NC.

The USCSA allows only the top four teams from each conference to appear at regionals. Therefore, the women's team, which finished fifth in the conference, will not go.

Lees-McRae College (which ranked fifth in the nation last year), Duke University and the University of Virginia will all be competing in the regional competition along with ASU.

This year's USCSA regional competition will be held in Snowshow, W.Va. in two weeks.

"We're moving up from fourth place which we got last year, said club president Rob Byrd. "I think we could've done better, but we're going to regionals; thatÕs all that matters."

Individual conference rankings were also given this weekend. Andrew Jochel and Mark Feichter both ranked in the top ten for the men. Jackie Lueke also ranked in the top ten for the women.

Byrd and Chapman Porterfield were both ranked high as well.

On Saturday, the men's team finished third in the Slalom. Jochel finished in fourth with a total time of 39.99 followed by Feichter with a time of 44.08 and Porterfield with a time of 48.30.

"I'm very pleased with the result," said Porterfield. "I could have done better, but we did good as a team."

The women's team finished fifth. Lueke lead the team with a total time of 53.03. Alaina Farthing had a time of 57.53 and Megan Rowell had a time of 59.81.

"We've done really well," said Farthing of the women's team. "We've had so much fun, and I feel like we've improved a whole lot, but we still have to improve for a future chance at regionals.

Jochel, who has led the team all season, missed Sunday's race, sending the men's team to a sixth place season low in the Giant Slalom (GS).

Fortunately, each team's lowest race score is dropped. However, if the men had placed third, as they had hoped, one the two fourth place finishes from earlier in the season would have been dropped. If this had been the case, it was quite possible the team would have ranked second in the conference.

There was only a four second difference between third place and sixth place, so Jochel's absence really hurt the team.

"I thought we would do better," said Byrd. "If we could've thrown one of the fourth places out, if we had finished third today, I think we could've gotten second in the conference. But we got third place, we're going to regionals, thatÕs all we care about. We'll see about nationals when we get there."

The women's team finished fifth in the GS, led by Lueke along with Farthing and Lindsay Babcock.

The team raced at Winter Green, Va. two weekends ago. In Slalom, Jochel came in first place, leading the men to a third place victory.

The men also came in third in GS. Jochel finished third, followed by Feichter in eighth and Chapman in seventeenth.

The women's team came in fourth in Slalom and fifth in GS.

Also that weekend, Lees-McRae came in second place for the first time in five years.

Last year, the men's club finished fourth in the conference, but due to financial problems was only able to send half of the team to regionals. This year, the entire team, except for Porterfield (who has an irreversible prior engagement), will be able to go. This should give the team a better chance at doing well.

As for now, the men's team will take a two week break in preparation for the regional competition. The team plans to get plenty of practices in over this time.

Mountaineers put in strong showing at Pepsi Invitational

ASUtrackandfield.com

Senior Kirsten Bowden led the Mountaineer track and field squad on the first day of the Pepsi Invite at Virginia Tech last weekend with a provisional NCAA qualifying mark in the triple jump of 41 feet 9.75 inches.

The mark is the 12th highest-ranking performance of the indoor season for the Division I level. Bowden leads the conference in the event.

Junior Ryan Linebarger qualified for the finals in the 60 meter hurdles with a 8.09 time in the event. He finished sixth in the finals with a time of 8.12. His 8.07 performance at the New Year's Invite on Jan. 13 still leads the conference.

Brad Ferguson, a junior, raced to a time of 15:28.37 in the 5,000 meters. Ferguson's time is the ninth best performance in the Southern Conference this season. The 5,000 meters is an event where the Mountaineers own six of the nine fastest times in the conference this winter, including the top four.

Unfortunately for the ASU squad, the Southern Conference only allows five entries at the conference championship in each event, meaning one of the top 10 runners in the 5,000 meters will not be allowed to compete at that distance.

On the second day of competition, senior Damion McLean just missed the NCAA provisional entry mark for the long jump by 2 1/4 inches. He leaped to a mark of 24 feet 7 inches.

The women's pole-vault team also performed well. Three ladies vaulted to heights of 10 feet or more. Freshman Suzanne Makinson and junior Kelly Hawkins lead the way with marks of 10 feet 6 inches.

The performance is off Makinson's season best of 11 feet but it is a 7 inch personal best for Hawkins. Also clearing a double-digit height was Freshmen Erin Hicks (10 feet).

Only a small group traveled for the distance squad as most of the team remained home to train for the upcoming conference meet.

Those who did travel continued to see the success the Mountaineer distance men have seen this school year. Sophomore Franklin Manchester ran to a personal best in the 3,000 meters, running 8:42.87.

His time is the fifth-fastest time in the Southern Conference this winter and the third on the Mountaineer squad.ÊAlso running well in the 3,000 meters was Junior Ben Schowe (8:47.27) and freshman Ryan Toler (8:51.27).

In the rarely contested 500 meter event, the Mountaineers ran to some impressive times. Sophomore Randall Williams placed seventh, sprinting to a time of 1:05.58. His performance translates to a 48.9 second 400 meters indoors. Also running the 500 meters were Lady Mountaineers Katie Sujkowski, a freshman, and sophomore Alice Stople. The two ladies ran to times of 1:17.20 and 1:17.68, respectively. Sujkowski and Stople's performances are equivalent to quarter mile times of 57.3 and 57.8, repsectively.

Andy Morris - Contributing Writer

The Appalachian State University wrestling team won in dominating fashion Wednesday night at Davidson College.

The Mountaineers won every weight class except one en route to crushing the Wildcats 40-3 in Southern Conference action. The win clinches at least a share of the conference title.

With the match still close at 11-3, the Mountaineers got consecutive pins from 197-pounder Geoff McIntosh and heavyweight Danny Misenheimer to pull away 23-3. Misenheimer earned his fifth pin in five matches as he defeated Davidson's Shawn Reynolds in 2:10.

"I just saw the move and I went with it," said Misenheimer. "I overpowered him and stuck it."

Appalachian head coach Paul Mance was also pleased with Misenheimer's effort.

"He's done a good job, but it took him a while to learn where he needs to be," he said. "He's learned what it is like to be a college wrestler."

Ranked number 15 in the nation, senior Jeremy Hart won his 100th match as a Mountaineer with a 13-3 major decision against Grant Doornbos. Hart led only 2-0 after the first two periods but outscored his opponent 10-3 in the final period to earn the win.

"I started slow, but I like to wear down my opponent and score the points later," he said.

Hart, two-time defending SoCon champion, gave credit to the team for his 100 wins.

"I've worked hard ever since the day I started here, but I couldn't have done it without my coaches and teammates pushing me as well," he said.

Mance gave credit to HartÕs outstanding determination to win."He's a tremendous kid," he said. "He gives you a 100 percent every time."

The match began with a 10-2 major decision by Appalachian's P.J. Boccia followed by Davidson's only win of the night, a 5-4 overtime win by 165-pounder Mark OÕHair against ASU's J.D. Kirby.

The Mountaineers won the final eight matches with four major decisions, two pins, one technical fall and a decision.

Mance was satisfied with the team's overall dominating performance. "Everyone wrestled well and gave a good effort," he said.

A key difference in the win from other matches earlier in the season was the increased vocal support of the team.

"We did really well as a team by pulling for each other and cheering for everyone," said Misenheimer. "In our other matches, we were not very vocal."

Hart agreed, commenting that the team enjoyed themselves more against Davidson. "We wrestled awesome, but we also had fun together as a team."

With the conference season winding down, the Mountaineers are now turning their attention to the conference tournament on March 3 in Chapel Hill.

"We need to start working for the tournament now," said Mance.

"I think we'll do really well because the kids work too hard, and when you work that hard, itÕs difficult not to do well."