Men's Track & Field Takes Fifth at SoCon Championships

• Results

BOONE, N.C. – Taylor Martin's All-Southern Conference performance in the 400-meter hurdles led the Davidson men's track and field team to a fifth-place finish Sunday at the 2010 Southern Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Kidd Brewer Stadium on the campus of Appalachian State University.

Martin, a sophomore, placed third in the 400m hurdle finals in a personal best 55.40 seconds. He joined classmate Ryan Hopkins in earning All-SoCon honors, as Hopkins earned them in the 10,000-meter run on Saturday.

Hopkins scored one of four fourth-place finishes for the Wildcats on the second day, taking fourth in the 5,000-meter run in 15:05.58. Freshman Wes Reynolds earned All-Freshman honors in the event with a time of 16:28.74.

“Overall it was another good day for us,” said head coach Gary Andrew. “I was very pleased with our performances.”

The 'Cats were strong in the middle-distance events. Junior Peter Bruton took fourth in the 1500-meter run in 3:55.71, while freshman Vincent Weir earned All-Freshman honors with a time of 4:04.08. Bruton placed eighth in the 800-meter run finals in 1:56.00 while Will Stratford led the All-Freshman team with a seventh-place finish in 1:55.94.

Both of Davidson's relay efforts earned fourth-place finishes. Lee Dorsey, Jin-Han Justin Song, Bryce Jones and Mordecai Scott nearly set a new school record in the 4x100-meter relay with a time of 42.12. The performance ranks as the second-best in Davidson's history and was just .02 seconds shy of the 42.10 standard set in 1969. Martin, James Tolleson, Melaku Teka and Song then turned in a Davidson top-10 performance in the 4x400-meter relay in 3:19.73.

Song moved up Davidson's top-10 performers list in the 400-meter dash, placing fifth in the finals in 48.37 seconds.

On Saturday, Hopkins was just under 10 seconds off the pace of Appalachian State's Phillip Mitchell, placing second in 31 minutes, 42.26 seconds in one of the top-10 performances all-time by a Davidson runner in the 10K. Freshman Demetrios Pagonis also scored for the Wildcats in the event, placing sixth in 32:20.94 to earn a place on the All-Freshman team.

Jones broke the Davidson pole vault record with a vault of 14 feet, 7 ¼ inches (4.45m) to place 11th. The previous record of 14-6 (4.42m), set by Woody Van Meter, had stood since 1975.

Scott came up just short of advancing in the 100-meter dash, placing 10th with a time of 11.21.

Senior Blake Evitt led three 'Cats runners in the steeplechase, placing 10th in 9:54.32. Vincent Weir was the leading freshman, placing 11th overall in 9:58.12 to earn a place on the All-Freshman team.

Appalachian State tallied 263.5 points to take the Southern Conference Championship, while Western Carolina notched 242 for second. Samford rounded out the top three with 132.5.

Final Men's Team Results
1. Appalachian State - 263.5 points
2. Western Carolina - 242
3. Samford - 132.5
4. The Citadel - 57.5
5. Davidson - 44
6. Chattanooga - 29
T7. Furman - 21
T7. UNC Greensboro - 21
9. Wofford - 3.5