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.