4/16/10 Cullowhee, NC- William Parker started it off and Ben Hall put an exclamation point to a day full of personal bests and school records for the Cavaliers at the 2010 AAC Track & Field Championships held on the campus of Western Carolina University.

Freshman William Parker saved his season's best jumps for when it mattered the most; his efforts landed him a 2^nd place finish in the long jump with a leap of 5.92m (19-5.25) and a 1.82m (5-11.5) 3^rd place finish in the high jump.

"Billy set the tone for the entire day. I felt it was important for him to start our day off right, and he didn't disappoint," praised Coach Jose Larios. "I can't believe there was any athlete out there that was more determined and more focused on the AAC's as Billy… I'd consider him to be one of the most impactful freshman in the conference."

In the mens' 1500m race, Will Musto (So./Rocky Face, GA) finished in 7^th place in a personal best time of 4:23.99, while Winston Rheinbolt (Fr./Lima, Peru) finished 8^th in 4:34.63.

Daniel Dunn (Jr./Daytona Beach, FL) ran another personal best for the second weekend in a row when he finished in 3^rd place in the 3000m Steeplechase in 10:36.06.

The hottest performance of the day came in the second-to-last event, when Ben Hall (Jr./Columbus, NC) outkicked teammate Wilbourn Kosgei (Sr./Kapsabet, Kenya) to win the mens' 5000m race and take home his first AAC title. Hall finished in 15:30.65, a 10 second personal best, while teammate Wilbourn Kosgei finished 2^nd in 15:32.03; Jared Nielsen crossed the finish line in 10^th in 17:26.13.

"I was just trying to finish hard, and I was hoping that Wilbourn would finish harder," Hall said about outkicking his teammate. "As I passed him I said, ‘Come on, Wilbourn!' but he didn't."

In the mens' 800m race, Noah Hall finished 6^th in 2:05.80, while Will Musto struggled to a 2:14.77, 8^th place finish. Earlier in the day, Hall (Fr./Columbus, NC) competing in the long jump flew 5.03m (16' 6") to finish in 7^th place.

On the ladies' side, Kim Hibbit (Fr./Cleveland, OH) finished in 4^th place in the 1500m "metric mile", running 5:55.14, while Elyse Gildernew (So./Lookout Mountain, GA) finished in 5^th place in 6:02.90. Hibbit also ran a sizeable season's best time in the 800m race, where she finished 5^th in 2:41.52. Gildernew also competed in the 800m; she finished in 6^th place in 2:55.52.

In the womens' 5000m event, Lindsay Mizok (So./Weddington, NC) was plagued by seasonal allergies which caused difficulties with her breathing, and she did not finish after practically collapsing two miles into the event.

Both Running Cavaliers teams finished in 4^th place in the conference; the men scored 15 points, while the women scored 1 point.

The long distance portion of the team will be traveling to Nashville, TN next weekend to chase national qualifying standards at the Country Music Half Marathon. The rest of the team is off until May 9, when they will compete at the Duke Twilight Last Chance Meet.

Photo Credit:  Arilicia Adkins