Conference Carolinas

Mount Olive Voted Conference Carolinas Women’s Track & Field Preseason Favorite

1/9/2013 12:00:00 AM

Top returner is junior Alaytra Carswell, who became the first freshman in school history in any sport to win a conference player of the year and is now the only Trojan student-athlete to do so in both their freshman and sophomore years. Carswell, who won the 200 meter and 400 meter dash at last year’s Conference Carolinas Championship, was the 2011 and 2012 Conference Carolinas Women’s Track Athlete of the Year, as well as the 2011 Freshman of the Year.

Carswell is among six returning All-Conference Carolinas performers for the Trojans. Aerostata Brown, Chelsea Long and Amber Thompson earned all-conference in track events last year, while Denise Harrison and Char’de Washington captured all-conference honors in field events. Thompson is coming off a spectacular cross country season, having won the 2012 Conference Carolinas Women’s Cross Country individual title and earning Conference Carolinas Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Year and Scholar Athlete of the Year accolades.

Entering the 2013 campaign the Limestone College Saints return nearly all of their top performers, with the exception of Anisha Barbee, who claimed First-Team All-Conference and champion honors in the 100-meter dash and Second-Team and runner-up recognition in the 200-meter dash.

Senior Becky Sampson returns as a champion and First-Team selection in the 100-meter hurdles as does junior Andriena Paige. Paige earned a pair of runner-up finishes for All-Conference Carolinas Second-Team honors in the 100-meter hurdles and the 400-meter hurdles.

They are joined by the 2012 Field Athlete of the Year, sophomore Amber Cunningham. Last season she earned that honor, becoming just the second Limestone student-athlete to accomplish the feat and second consecutive, as she took home championships and First-Team honors in the discus throw and hammer throw events. She was also named to the USTFCCCA All-Southeast Region Team in the hammer throw.

King College is picked to finish third this season after placing third at last spring’s Conference Carolinas Championships. The duo of Shelbie Burchfield and Maegan Henry helped King to a third place finish in last year’s conference championships after a season’s worth of strong performances in field and throwing events, respectively. Henry, the reigning Women’s Freshman of the Year, is primed for another strong season after breaking the school record in the shot put (13.33m). Burchfield reached the NCAA provisional qualifying mark (1.68m) in the women’s high jump last season and is ready to make the leap into the 2012-13 season. Long jump champion Tia Keitt (5.46m) will help lead in the field events along with Burchfield while the distance runners will be led by senior Hannah Witt, last year’s 10,000-meter winner (39:03.22). King has all five of its All-Region honorees, combining for 10 awards, returning for the 2012-13 season.

Rounding out the women's track & field preseason poll 4-8 is: Lees-McRae, Belmont Abbey, Barton, Queens and North Greenville respectively.