Final Results
Photo Galleries: Day 1  /  Day 2
Interview w/ TLU head coach Patrick Zarate

CLINTON, Miss. -- Led by 10 conference champions, 11 all-conference athletes and 46 season-bests, the Texas Lutheran Bulldogs captured their third consecutive American Southwest Conference Women's Track & Field team championship.

Saturday at Mississippi College's Robinson-Hale Stadium/Jack E. Parkman Track, the Bulldogs held off McMurry University for the team title. TLU finished the meet with 258 points. McMurry was second with 246.50. TLU held a 28-point lead after Friday's six events.

TLU first won a conference team title in 2005. The Bulldogs now have titles in 2010, 2011, and 2012.

"It is an outstanding accomplishment to win three straight conference championships when you have to compete against a team as successful as McMurry," said Patrick Zarate, TLU's head coach for women's track and field. "I am extremely proud of these ladies and truly honored to be their coach."

 "These ladies knew we were in for a battle this weekend, and we really stepped it up. We had over 40 season-bests this weekend and set three school records. That is the type of performance that we needed to make this third consecutive championship happen."

In the 14 events contested on Saturday, the Bulldogs received winning performances from Monique Anderson (Houston/Dobie) in the 100 and 200 meters, Vanecia Spencer (Grandview/Grandview) in the 400, Ligia Bolivar (Sugar Land/Travis) in the pole vault, Brooke Basey (Buda/Hays) in the javelin, and Kristyna Landry (Beaumont/Westbrook) in the discus.

Anderson won the 100 with a school-record time of 11.96 seconds. The sophomore edged McMurry's Kendra Coleman (12.04) for the individual title. Anderson also won the 200. She crossed the line in 24.89 and nipped Shanita Coleman of McMurry by .01.

Anderson, an outdoor track and field All-American in 2011, repeated as the ASC's Women's Track Athlete of the Year.

Bolivar and Landry also defended their conference titles from a year ago. Bolivar cleared 11-6.50. Landry nipped teammate Allie Beach (Orange/Orangefield) for the conference discus title. Landry recorded a mark of 129-08, and Beach had a toss of 129-05.

Spencer, the ASC West Division Newcomer of the Year in women's volleyball, made a splash at the conference track and field meet. She won the 400 with a time of 57.90 seconds. She beat McMurry's Laura Oviedo (58.05) to the line.

Brooke Basey won the third ASC individual title of her track and field career. Basey, a senior, won the 3,000 steeplechase in 2009 as freshman and first won the javelin as a sophomore in 2010. Basey's winning throw in the javelin Saturday was 120-04, eight feet more than the conference runner-up.

On Friday, Keelin Treacy (Corpus Christi/Flour Bluff), Chelsea Johnson (Katy/Cinco Ranch), Kristi Ellis (Petoskey, Mich./Petoskey) and Brianna Johnson (Giddings/Giddings) claimed individual titles. Treacy won the 10,000, and Johnson took the 3,000 steeplechase with a new school record time of 12:12:03. Ellis won the high jump, and Johnson set a new school record in winning the shot put with a toss of 41 feet, 10 inches.

Each conference champion was named to the 2012 All-Conference Team. Athletes who scored 14 or more points also earned All-Conference status. TLU's Melissa Longoria (San Antonio/Providence) and Devin Evans (Houston/Hightower) fit into that category. Evans was seventh in the 200, second with the 4x100 relay team, third with the 4x400 relay team, third in the long jump, and fifth in the 100. Longoria took a third in the 5,000 and a second in the 10,000.

Zarate was named ASC Women's Track & Field Coach of the Year for a third straight season. Zarate, in his sixth season as head coach, was an assistant coach when the Bulldogs won their first women's track and field title in 2005.

TLU's women's track and field season continues with several last-chance meets as the Bulldogs attempt to secure spots in the 2012 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships, to be contested May 24-26 in Claremont, Calif.

-Courtesy Texas Lutheran University Sports Information Department

Major Awards
 
Women's Coach of the Year: Patrick Zarate (Texas Lutheran)
Outstanding Female Track Athlete of the Year:  Monique Anderson (Texas Lutheran)
Outstanding Female Field Athlete of the Year: Shanita Coleman (McMurry)
High Point Athlete of the Meet:  Shanita Coleman (McMurry)
Female Sportsmanship Athlete of the Year:  Megan Wangenaar (Concordia Texas)

All-Conference Awards (event winners and athletes with 14 or more points):
Tiana Alexander - MCM
Shanita Coleman - MCM
Felicia Rivers - MCM
Megan Wangenaar - Concordia
Monique Anderson - TLU
Jayci Shelton - Hardin-Simmons
Brooke Basey - TLU
Destiny Kesee - 
Chelsea Johnson - TLU
Keelin Treacy - TLU
Vanecia Spencer - TLU
Mariah Steinbock - MCM
Allison Pringle - Concordia
Melissa Longoria - TLU
Kendra Coleman - MCM
Devin Evans - TLU
Keisha Collins - MCM
Kristyna Landry - TLU
Kristi Ellis - TLU
Brianna Johnson - TLU
Ligia Bolivar - TLU
Meredith Johnson - Miss College
Leah Doughty- MCM
Marlena Hunt - TLU
Carla Burton - MC