Franklin takes second and third in MAC

Joel Lynch prepares to stretch out during the pole vault Thursday at the MAC Championships. Photo by Nick Carter

Four Lady Panthers make All-MAC

By Nick Carter - Sports editor

Heather Browning leads the field during the second leg of the first-place 4x200 relay. Photo by Nick Carter

Though the Lady Panther track team didn't repeat as MAC champion, it did finish a close second to T.C. Roberson.

Running and jumping through puddles and chilly rain, Franklin had a strong showing. The Lady Panthers placed in 11 of 12 running events at Thursday's championship meet at North Buncombe and appear to have qualified a strong contingent for this weekend's Regional Meet at Western Carolina University.

"I was so happy with our effort in the running events. We just got killed in the field events," said head coach Jay Brooks. "Sometimes field events are like that. I was happy with our effort; it just didn't work out for us."

The Lady Rams' 125 total team points dominated the meet, with Franklin coming in second with 111. Behind the Lady Panthers the scores dropped off dramatically.

North Buncombe finished third with just 84 points and Enka placed fourth with 62.

Four Franklin athletes made up 80 percent of the team's total points for the afternoon. With 20 or more points each, Kayla Morgan, Carrie Long, Beth Long and Heather Browning carried the team into second.

As co-MVPs of last year's conference championship, Beth Long and Morgan certainly made a triumphant return.

Morgan tallied two individual first-place finishes and ended up the team's high scorer, with 25 total points. She took first in the triple jump with a distance of 33' 6 3/4" and in the 200, with a time of 26.7.

Morgan also ran legs of the 4x200 and 4x400 relays. Both relay teams took first.

Beth Long finished the meet with 20 team points. Her points came from second-place individual performances in the 800 and the 400. Her times of 2:30 and 1:02, respectively, netted 16 points for the Lady Panthers.

Beth Long also ran legs of the first-place 4x400 relay and the third-place 4x800 relay.

With 23 team points, Heather Browning was Franklin's second highest scorer. According to Brooks, she was just a few votes short of winning MVP of the meet.

Browning won the 100 hurdles, with a time of 16.3 and placed second in the 300 hurdles, with a time of 48.5. She also ran legs of Franklin's two first-place relays.

Carrie Long's 21 total team points came from a first in the 400, a third in the pole vault and legs of both the 4x200 and 4x400 relays. With her winning time of 101.8 in the 400, she finished just two-tenths of a second faster than her sister, Beth.

In the pole vault, she cleared the 9' mark for third.

All four athletes were named All-MAC and will make an appearance at the Regional Meet. When the final seedings are made several other Lady Panthers will most likely join them at the regionals this Saturday at WCU.

"We can't wait for the regionals," Brooks said. "The competition will be tough but we've got our stars and some good young kids that have never been there before. It will be an opportunity for us to shine."