Southern Miss Track & Field Ready to Start 2019 Season

Southern Miss Track & Field Ready to Start 2019 Season

1/8/2019 12:00:00 PM | Track & Field/Cross Country

The Golden Eagles have their first meet on Jan. 11 at UAB.

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Southern Miss Track & Field program looks ahead to the start of the 2019 season, beginning on Jan. 11 at UAB for the Blazer Invitational.

The Schedule
Southern Miss will travel to five different meets for the indoor season before the C-USA and NCAA Indoor Championships. The Indoor season will take place from January through March. They will start off with the UAB Blazer Invite on Jan. 11, then to the Vanderbilt Invitational on Jan. 18 and 19. To start off February, Southern Miss will travel to Lexington, Ky. for the Kentucky Invitational and then The Music City Challenge at Vanderbilt the next weekend in Nashville, Tenn. The Conference USA Indoor Championships will take place on Feb. 16-17 in Birmingham, Ala., and then the NCAA Indoor Championships will be Mar. 8 and Mar. 9, again in Birmingham.

For the Outdoor season, the Eagles will kick it off with hosting a high school meet at its home facility on March 1; the USM High School Invitational. Then the Eagles were start outdoor season for themselves on the road for two meets, competing in the Jaguar Classic at South Alabama on Mar. 15-16, and then the Bulldog Relays in Starkville on Mar. 22-23. On Mar. 29 and 30, USM will host the Southern Miss Invitational here in Hattiesburg. Starting in April, they will have four meets on the road at Auburn, Alabama, LSU and Mt. San Antonio College, and finish off the month with the second home event of the season, the Southern Miss Open on Apr. 26-27. The Conference USA Outdoor Championships will take place in Charlotte, NC, on May 9-12.

A Look Back
The Golden Eagles had a record season in 2018. The women finished as C-USA Outdoor Champions and placed second at the C-USA Indoor Championships. Head Coach Jon Stuart was named C-USA Outdoor Women's Coach of the Year. The men finished second at the C-USA Outdoor Championships, and seven student-athletes qualified for the NCAA Outdoor National Championships. Mckinely West became a three-time NCAA Outdoor All-American in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100, and is only one of two athletes in the nation to final in three events - 100m, 200m, 4x100. John Warren was named a Triple Jump All-American at the NCAA Indoor Championships, finishing sixth. West and Warren were named Track Athlete and Field Athlete of the meet at both the C-USA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Southern Miss had five NCAA Outdoor All-Americans overall in Mckinely West, Alexander Richemond, Cra'vorkian Carson, Chedlin Sagesse and John Warren. Three student-athletes were named to the C-USA Academic Team in Courtney Filliben, Keiyana Gaskin and Patton Little. Overall, the Golden Eagles had four C-USA Indoor Champions and six C-USA Outdoor Champions.

That Championship feeling...🏆😎 pic.twitter.com/WgfiGz8qcJ
— Southern Miss T&F, XC (@SouthernMissTF) May 14, 2018

🚨The 2019 Schedule is OUT!🚨
🗓️https://t.co/ogL9Zw6zLC
📰https://t.co/DjNL30TKfn

⬇️This is how we finished last year, we plan on adding another this season😏 pic.twitter.com/zsyzJdPkr7
— Southern Miss T&F, XC (@SouthernMissTF) October 16, 2018

🤩😍💍 #SMTTT https://t.co/hKp869F3Y3
— Southern Miss T&F, XC (@SouthernMissTF) October 18, 2018

New and Familiar Faces
Before the 2019 season, head coach Jon Stuart added a new throws coach to the staff, Casey Fonnesbeck. Fonnesbeck joined the staff in August and came from the University of Nebraska where he was a volunteer coach for the throwers. He was also previously an assistant coach at Idaho State. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 2010 where he competed for the Fighting Illini all four years and was in the Top-10 for shot-put, weight throw and hammer. He also competed at the Big Ten Championships and qualified for the DI Mideast Regional Championships in 2007, 2008 and 2009. He received his master's in Higher and Post-Secondary Education from Arizona State, where he also competed for the Sun Devils, scoring at the Pac 10 Championships and qualifying for the DI West Regional Championships.

Emron Gibbs, a graduate of Southern Miss and the Track & Field program, is with the staff for his second year as a graduate assistant. As a junior at Southern Miss, he placed fourth in the javelin with a throw of 244'10" at the NCAA Championships, and took second at the NCAA East Preliminary Meet with a throw of 239'11". He finished second at the C-USA Championships in javelin and broke Greneda and Southern Miss school records with a throw of 248'5" at the LSU Alumni Meet earlier in the season. He also competed in the weight throw in the Indoor season, and finished 11th with a throw of 50'9" at the Conference Championships for Indoor. His senior year, he placed 20th at the NCAA National Championships and was eighth in the Regional Meet for NCAA East. He was Conference USA Champion for javelin with a throw of 245'6". The Grenada native will graduate with his master's in Sport Management at Southern Miss in May.

The Team
Southern Miss welcomes seven new runners to the team, two men and five women. Lina May competed this fall for cross country and continually had solid and impressive performances.

Men
Seniors – Devonta Brassell (Jumps), Lorenzen Burton (Sprints), Thomas Peters (Throws), Chedlin Sagesse (Sprints), John Warren (Jumps), McKinley West (Sprints)
Juniors – Elijah Burton (Sprints), Dominic Governale (Throws), Patton Little (Mid-Distance), Caleb Parker (Jumps/Hurdles), Mamadou Seck (Sprints), Keionis Spears (Hurdles), Eric Washington (Jumps)
Sophomores – Dexter Molden (Hurdles), Eric Richards (Jumps), Christian Strong (Hurdles)
Freshmen – A'Sonti Hall (Sprints/Hurdles), Trey Johnson (Sprints)

Women
Seniors – Madeleine Bell (Distance), Victoria Hoppe (Distance), Danisha Jones (Throws), Chenelle Ricketts (Sprints), Rian Robinson (Sprints), Chloe Tedder (Distance), Rachel Tedder (Distance), Kadaria Thompson (Sprints)
Juniors – Jamari Drake (Jumps), Keiyana Gaskin (Sprints), Monika Gebarzewska (Distance), Shundoria Hardy (Sprints), Theresa Harto (Distance/Mid-Distance), Zaria Jones (Multis/Jumps), Regen McGee (Distance), Savannah McMillon (Mid-Distance), Sarah McMillon (Distance), Grace Parker (Sprints), Sandra Szpott (Distance), Aireanna Taylor (Sprints)
Sophomores – Emma Kate Holdbrooks (Distance), Callie Jones (Multis/Throws), Kate Mattox (Distance), Rikianne Patterson (Jumps/Sprints)
Freshmen – Jasmine Griffin (Sprints/Hurdles), Taylor Harris (Sprints/Mid-Distance), Lina May (Distance), Marquasha Myers (Hurdles/Jumps), Nelia Simeon (Throws)

Fly Along with the Golden Eagles
Southern Miss fans can keep up to date with all things Golden Eagle Track & Field by following the official Twitter account, @SouthernMissTF. Fans can also find content on our official Instagram, @southernmisstfxc. Recaps, stories, schedule and results can always be found at SouthernMiss.com.