BC's Queen, LC's Decker Share Men's Award, RC's Yerkes Top Woman
SALEM, Va. --- For the third time in the last
five years, three athletes received top honors in a vote of the
league's track and field coaches. Bridgewater College's
Melvin Queen and Scott Decker from Lynchburg College share the 2008
ODAC Male Track and Field Athlete of the Year award. Roanoke
College's Robin Yerkes was tabbed as the 2008 ODAC Female Track and
Field Athlete of the Year.
Combined, the three standouts won 13 events between the 2008 ODAC
Indoor Track and Field Championships and 2008 ODAC Outdoor Track
and Field Championships. All three also competed in the 2008
NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships, helping
represent the conference in one of its strongest fields to
date. Yerkes and Decker made the trip to Ada, Ohio, to
participate in the 2008 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field
Championships.
Yerkes, a sophomore from Arnold, Maryland, won a combined six
individual events and ran a leg on the Maroons record-setting
4x100-meter relay team. Indoors, she won the 55-meter (7.27
seconds), 200-meter (25.31) and 400-meter (58.20) dashes to claim
Athlete of the Meet honors. She also anchored the Maroons
winning 4x400-meter relay team (4:05.96). Outdoors, Yerkes
stopped the watches first in the 100-meter (12.38 secs), 200-meter
(25.50) and 400-meter (57.25) dashes. Along with teammates
Jaleesa Osborne, Tiffany France and Kate Mason, Roanoke won the
4x100-meter relay with a time of 46.84 seconds, a new ODAC outdoor
championship and regular competition record. Yerkes and
Mason, along with Wava Doyle and Meredith Withers, finished second
in the 4x400-meter relay at a 4:15.88 mark.
At the outdoor national championships in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Yerkes
placed second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.87
seconds. Her qualifying time of 24.70 seconds fell just 0.01
seconds short of the ODAC record, a mark she already owns.
Yerkes also reteamed with Osborne, France and Mason in the
4x100-meter relay, crossing the line with a second-place time of
46.54 seconds to reset the ODAC record the four had established
just a little over a month prior.
Indoors at Ohio Northern University, Yerkes placed fourth in the
nation in the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.74 seconds.
She entered the meet with the third-fastest time in the nation at
56.53 seconds.
Queen, a senior from Chesapeake, Virginia, won twice outdoors at
the ODAC Championships including a fourth straight title in the
100-meter dash (11.00 secs.). He also placed second in the
200-meter dash with a time of 21.94 seconds. Queen then
teamed with Brandon Copeland, Tyler Beiler and Tony Konate in the
4x100-meter relay, claiming top marks with a time of 41.73
seconds. That time set a new ODAC Championships record by
0.01 seconds, replacing the 1998 Bridgewater team with a newer
edition of Eagles. At the ODAC indoor championships, Queen
won the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.48 seconds.
In Wisconsin, Queen competed in a pair of events, placing sixth
overall in the 100-meter dash in 10.80 seconds. The Eagles'
4x100-meter relay team also made the trip up north, but the Eagles'
time of 41.32 seconds fell one slot short of qualifying for the
event's final heat.
Decker, a senior from Clifton, Virginia, tasted victory in the pole
vault at both ODAC championship meets. Indoors, Decker
cleared 4.76 meters, or 15-feet 7.25-inches, to win the
event. Decker surpassed 4.50 meters (14-fee 9-inches) to win
the outdoor pole vault. Although he did not post a height at
the NCAA indoor meet, Decker's outdoor experienced proved much more
fulfilling as he finished third in the pole vault, eclipsing 4.96
meters (16-feet, 3.25-inches) for his best mark of the season.
Out of his spikes, Decker has received the ODAC/Farm Bureau
Scholar-Athlete Award four times, having earned the honor in a vote
of the ODAC's sports information directors for indoor and outdoor
track each of the past two academic years. He was also
recently named to the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors
of America) Academic All-District First Team, making him eligible
for Academic All-American honors.