Jan. 18, 2006

Sure, it is early, but UTA Head Track and Field Coach John Sauerhage is justified if a smile cracks from his lips after his squad's opening week performance at the Houston Indoor Opener.

The Mavericks have the Southland Conference's top marks in six events after the opening week of the season. Add another four events where the Mavericks place second in the SLC and you have the makings of a balanced track and field team ready to compete for the first conference indoor title since 2001.

"Its early, but the potential is there for a well-rounded, complete team that can compete for a conference championship," said Sauerhage, a 17-time SLC Coach of the Year who has led the Mavs' to 20 conference titles." We hope for improvement as the season goes along, but it is apparent that we will be contenders for a championship in the men's and women's (division)."

On the men's side, UTA was bolstered by the emergence of junior sprinter Jared Connaughton (Charlottetown, Canada). He is the first conference athlete to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships after a time of 6.23 for second place in the 55-meter dash. He also clocked the fourth fastest time in school history in the indoor 200m with a 21.51 to win his second race in his college career.

"We've been hopeful since we recruited Jared that these types of performances are within him," said Sauerhage. "He had a great meet and we are excited about how good he feels. We are excited to have one of the top sprinters in the conference and hopeful he can get to the NCAA Championships."

Freshman Andrew Duncan III cleared 6-feet, 9.50-inches for the league's top mark in the men's high jump.

Senior middle distance runner Jacob Cedertun (Eklsjo, Sweden) and senior Daniel Noah (Hitchcock, Texas) had strong performances. Cedertun finished second in the 800 meters with a 1:54.00 while Noah was sixth in the mile run with a 4:24.26. The time was good enough to place him second in the SLC standings behind Texas-San Antonio's Justin Pitchford who finished .40 seconds ahead of him. Freshman Idilio Campos (LaJoya, Texas) is third in the league's 800-meter rankings with a time of 1:56.72. In the 3,000 meters, sophomore Jody Broccoli-Hickey (8:54.24), Noah (9:07.64) and Ivan Pinal (9:11.70) are all ranked in the top five in the league.

On the women's side, senior sprinter Ellen Garrison (St. Louis, Mo.) clocked the fastest time in the SLC this season in the 60-meter dash with a converted time of 7.65 at the Houston Indoor Opener.

"You can see the beginning of a well-rounded team," said Sauerhage. "We had good production in the high jump, distance and middle distance races and Linda Rosema gave us something in the throws. The sprinters show some promise and our pole vaulters did a nice job in the first meet. We are close to performing well in every event. We need to get the talented people to do talented things. If we can avoid injuries, there is no reason we should be one of the top teams in the conference." (MORE)

Senior middle distance runner Ivorita Taylor's 2:16.27 in the 800 meters is five seconds faster than the next best time in the league -- a 2:21.69 by Lamar's Amber Prather. Carranda Mose (Pearland, Texas), KanDace Council (Converse, Texas) and Nicole Noel (Lewisville, Texas) are ranked 3-5 in the 800-meter standings after the first weekend.

Sophomore Jodi Hulett (Arlington, Texas), who claimed second-place in the 3,000-meter run with a 10:20.74, ranks second in the SLC.

Junior Linda Rosema (Azle, Texas) had her second-best weight throw of her career and ranks second in the SLC with a mark of 15.19m (49-10) in Houston.

Pole vaulters Lacey Moore (Great Bend, Kan.), Vanessa Maida (Abilene, Texas) and Erin Cluiss (Forney, Texas) all rank in the top five in the conference. Moore cleared 3.50m (11-05.75) for fourth place at the Houston Indoor while Maida and Cluiss matched efforts with a height of 10-11.75.

Freshman Stacey Bennett (Kingsville, Texas) began her collegiate career with a third-place finish in the women's high jump with a height of 5-04.25 and ranks tops in the conference standings this week.

Both men's and women's teams travel to Lubbock to compete in two events -- the Wes Kitley Invitational on Friday and the Texas Tech Six-Way Invitational featuring Tech, UTA, Texas-San Antonio, Abilene Christian, North Texas and Florida, on Saturday.

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