Murfreesboro, Tenn. - The Western Kentucky University track and field teams begin the 2011 Sun Belt Conference outdoor championship today at Dean Hayes Track on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University.
The Hilltoppers and Lady Toppers have swept each of the last three league outdoor titles, and the WKU women are riding the nation's longest conference win streak at 17 in-a-row, having won each cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field title dating back to the school's first-ever indoor title in 2006.
The women will be led by Laura Igaune, Monteka Flowers, Vasity Chemweno and Michelle Finn. Igaune ranks seventh in the nation in the hammer, and currently leads the league in both the hammer and discus throws, while fellow thrower Flowers ranks second in the conference in the shot and third in both the hammer and discus. Chemweno is the defending SBC outdoor champion in the 800 and 1500 meters, while Finn's steeplechase time leads the league this season.
For the men, national javelin leader Ignacio Guerra will lead the charge. Cross country all-American Shadrack Kipchirchir leads the league in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, while middle distance runner David Mokone is ranked highly in the 800 and 1500 meters. Fellow distance runners Kyle Chettleburgh comes into the meet with the league's best effort this season in the steeplechase. The duo of Karlis Daube and Marcus Pope are tied at the top of the SBC standings in the 110-meter high hurdles.
The meet begins today with day one of the heptathlon and decathlon, the men's and women's discus and the men's and women's 10,000 meters.
