Albany State University won the women's Competition with 240 points. Fort Valley State University was second with 159 and Clark Atlanta University with 115 points. These three were followed by Savannah State University, Tuskegee University, Morris Brown College, Paine College, and Lane College.
For the men, Morehouse won with a very impressive 287.75 points followed by Albany State (155.50), Savannah State (89.75), Clark AU (60), Fort Valley (54), Kentucky State University (36), Morris Brown (29), Paine (26), Lane (16), Tuskegee (7) and Miles College (5).
The most impressive overall performance came from Sharlene Fuller from Fort Valley State University. Over the three-day Championship Meet, she took first place honors in the 100m low hurdles and the 7-event Heptathalon. She also placed second in the 400m intermediate hurdles, fourth in the 100m dash, and fifth in the 200m dash. For all of her work, she took home the Best Overall Athlete Award given to the most outstanding perfomance.
On the mens side, Momodou Drammeh from Morehouse College placed first in not only the 800m, 1500m, and 3,000m Steeplechase, he also won the Best Male Track Athlete award. He even ran a leg on Morehouses third-place 4x400m relay.
Looking at the times for the final rounds of the meet, one could easily underestimate these great performances. With a swirling wind fluctuating track temperatures, athletes had to pour it on to make it to the finals on Saturday. Many outstanding preliminary performances on Thursday and Friday did not result in blazing times for Saturday. There was no lack of thrills though!
In front of a capacity, standing-room only crowd, Todd Smith of Morehouse came from behind to capture his second title when he walked-down his teammate Michael Blevins to win the 200m dash. Earlier that day, he held off Derron Burks of Morris Brown College to win the 400m.
Felicia Martin pulled off the impressive double of winning the 100m and 200m for the Albany State Rams. Her performances were good enough to qualify for the NCAA Championships to be held in a few weeks.
One of the most thrilling races was the Mens 4x100m relay where Savannah State University in lane 5 held off a hard charging Morehouse College in lane 8 to win. Kentucky State supporters were disappointed when their team faded to third barely edging Morris Brown College.
Running into a headwind for the Men's 100m, the top five runners were running neck-and-neck until the last 15m. That's when sophomore Michael Blevins of Morehouse pulled away to beat Kareem Epps of Savannah State and Eric Hall of Albany State to find some measure of redemption for the loss in the 4x100m relay.
The women's relays were all about Albany State. Winning in the third fastest time in the nation, ASU beat down their competition in the 4x100m relay from start to finish. The 4x400m was just as impressive where the Ram women ran the 5th fast time in the US so far.
I am proud to report that the SIAC will have a very strong representation of athletes at this year's NCAA championships. With all of the strong performances this year, there will surely be others who take notice of the great coaching and facilities the SIAC has to offer.
Congratulations to Coach Willie Laster of Albany State University for Coach of The Year for Women. Coach Willie Hill of Morehouse College won the Coach of The Year for Men. For Coach Hill, he has taken home this award for the past four years and 6 out of the last 10 years.
This is the second year in a row that the Albany State Rams have taken home the SIAC crown for women. Morehouse has won the last 4 championships.
Thanks for supporting these great athletes!
Ken Brown
Head Timer/Technology Specialist
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