June 13, 2008

Des Moines, Iowa - Western Carolina senior sprinter Zeb Johnson finished fifth in his heat on Thursday evening to place 22nd overall in the preliminary round of the men's 200-meter dash at the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships being held at the Drake University Stadium.

Johnson, who finished second in the men's 200-meter event at the Southern Conference Championships in Cullowhee, posted a time of 21.24 at the national competition, 17 one-hundredths of a second off the last transfer spot into the semifinals (16th, 21.07).

The WCU school record holder in the 200 and both 4x100 and 4x400-meter relays, Johnson was All-SoCon in five events in his final season including both relays and the 100, 200, and 400-meter dashes. He, along with his 4x100-meter relay teammates, garnered US Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-East Region accolades in 200-meter dash and 400-meter relay.

At the national championship event, Johnson and the men's 4x100-meter relay team of junior Manteo Mitchell and sophomores Dominique Young and Christian Bethune ran 39.80 in the Wednesday's preliminary round, a time that was just short of advancing. The foursome ended up being disqualified, however, after being ruled out of a hand-off zone on one of the baton exchanges.

Mitchell finished 21st in Wednesday's preliminary rounds of the 400-meter dash, tripping the tape in 47.21. He improved five positions over his showing in the 2007 outdoor championships. Sophomore Matt Evans posted a finish 20th-place finish in the men's high jump, clearing 2.05 meters and just missed out on the finals. He set a school benchmark in the event on four separate occasions this season.

WCU's lone women's entry into the national championships, senior Raquel Ramseur, concluded her collegiate career with a 19th-place finish overall in the women's 400-meter dash also on Wednesday. Ramseur finished fourth in her heat with a time of 53.79 seconds, just eight-one hundredths of a second off qualifying for the semifinals.

With the conclusion of WCU's participation in the championship event also comes the close of the 2007-08 Catamount athletic year. All told between its 16 intercollegiate sports, Western had 70 student-athletes named to post-season All-Southern Conference teams by the head coaches, with 10 garnering all-conference plaudits from the SoCon Sports Media Association in sports where the media selects a post-season squad.

Football senior Eddie Cohen garnered second team All-American honors from both the Associated Press and The Sports Network

Also, WCU had 21 Players of the Week in the various sports, with six SoCon Student-Athletes of the Week which factors in athletic and academic achievement. Catamount student-athletes also earned a SoCon Player of the Month honor five times during the year.

Success was also gleaned in the class room Western Carolina University had 25 student-athletes named to the Southern Conference Fall Academic team; a league-leading 22 student-athletes named to the Southern Conference Winter Academic team; and a league-leading 34 student-athletes named to the Spring Academic Team. Combined, WCU had 81 student-athletes honored on the three All-Academic teams, the most in the SoCon.

Also, baseball senior Tyler Sexton and women's basketball junior Brooke Johnson were both named to the ESPN The Magazine District III Academic All-Americans.

Activities for the 2008-09 season of Catamount Athletics gear up on Saturday, August 2nd with the initial report date for the Catamount football team. The first scheduled event for WCU in the fall of 2008 is a women's soccer scrimmage in Cullowhee against Cincinnati on August 11. The Soccer Cats also hold the honor of opening regular season play with a road match at East Carolina on Friday, Aug. 22, with the first home event of 2008-09 being Western's season-opening football game on Thursday, Aug. 28 at E.J. Whitmire Stadium/Bob Waters Field.