COLUMBIA, Ky. – The Lindsey Wilson men's and women's track and field programs added a total of 12 student-athletes for the upcoming 2014-15 season, head coach Jamaine Gordon announced on Thursday.
"This class is going to help us begin building towards our goal of consistently winning at the conference level and being a contender for nationals," Gordon said. "We have athletes that can immediately make an impact at the national level, but we also have students that we will develop into national caliber athletes. A solid mixture of those two things is what we are looking forward to in this class."
Joining Lindsey Wilson on the men's side is Dante Johnson, Kendrick Smith, Marcus Terrell, Ben Hoffman, Joshua Corral, Eddie Weaver and Andrew Morgan.
Johnson hails from North Hardin High School in Elizabethtown, Ky., and is a four-time state champion, twice in the 300 meter hurdles and once each in the 110 meter hurdles and 4x400 meter relay events. His high school squad won two state titles in his time there. Johnson also took fourth place at state in 2013 in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 14.85. He holds a career best time of 14.42 in the 110 meter hurdles event.
Smith is from Austin High School in Decatur, Ala., and is the No. 3-ranked runner in the state. Smith is a two-time track and field state qualifier and holds career times of 10.66 and 21.82 in the 100 meters and 200 meters, respectively.
Terell also hails from North Hardin and is a four-time state qualifier in cross country. He is a two-time Foot Locker South Regional Cross Country Championships participant. Terrell will also compete in track and field distance events. He holds career-best times of 1:58.00 in the 800 meters and 51.00 in the 400 meters. His 4x800 meter relay team finished in fourth place at the state championships this year.
Hoffman and Corral are from Oldham County High School in Bucker, Ky., where they were both two-time state qualifiers in track and field. Their 4x400 meter relay team finished in fifth place at the state championships. Hoffman, also a state qualifier in cross country, took sixth place in the 800 meters at the state championships this year while Corral took sixth place in the 400 meters. Both are expected to have a big impact in the mid-distance sprinting track events.
Weaver comes from John Hardin High School and Morgan is from North Hardin. Both are state qualifiers in cross country and two-time track and field state qualifiers. Morgan's 4x400 relay team finished fourth at the state championships this past season.
Joining Lindsey Wilson on the women's side is Elena Oslund, Mia Cornette, Abbie Chandler, Heather Wilson and Kassidy Edwards.
Oslund is a transfer student-athlete from Darton State College in Albany, Ga. She was the Region 17 individual cross country conference champion and earned First Team All-Region honors in 2013 and Second Team All-Region honors in 2012. Oslund is a two-time NJCAA National Cross Country Qualifier and holds a career best time of 2:20 in the 800 meters, 5:20 in the 1,600 meters and 19:30 in the 5,000 meter cross country event.
Cornette attended Woodford County High School in Versailles, Ky., where she was a two-time regional individual cross country champion. She is a five-time cross country state qualifier and a city champion her sophomore year. Cornette is also expected to compete with the women's track and field distance teams.
Chandler hails from Central Hardin High School in Cecilia, Ky., and is a five-time state qualifier in cross country and two-time state qualifier in track and field. She earned First Team All-Conference honors from 2009-12 and Academic All-State honors from 2010-12. Chandler holds a career-best time of 5:48 in the 1,600 meters. In 2011, Chandler was named Central Hardin's Runner of the Year and The News Enterprise's Sophomore of the Year.
Wilson comes from Lynn Camp High School in Corbin, Ky., and Edwards attended Metcalf County in Edmonton, Ky. Both are state qualifiers in cross country.