The Charlotte Track & Field heads to Denton, Texas to compete in the 2023 Conference USA Outdoor Championships. The 49ers will look to complete the triple crown, with both the men and the women winning the cross country and indoor track & field conference championships earlier in the year. This will be the first time since the 2020-2021 season that a Charlotte track and field team completed the triple crown when the men’s team did it that year. This would be the first time that a full program has won the Conference USA triple crown in conference history. This would also be the first time that a full track and field program won both the indoor and outdoor conference title since Houston did it in 2005.
5-Peat
The men’s track & field squad will be going for its fifth-straight conference title. The men have so far won four straight outdoor conference titles from 2018-2022 (there was no outdoor championship in 2020 due to the pandemic). The men won the 2022 title by 55.5 points over runner-up UTEP. Nick Scudder was the men’s high point scorer of the meet, coming away with 28 points for the men. The men had four individual champions at the 2022 conference championships, with the Niners winning the event championships in the 3,000m Steeplechase, 5,000m, 10,000m, and 4x400m relay.
Defending Champs
The women’s team enters the outdoor conference championships as the defending champs. It came down to the final event of the meet last season, as the women took the 4x400m relay final to take the outdoor crown. Ta-Halia Fairman was named the C-USA Women’s Track Performer of the Meet, after winning both the 100m and the 200m. Fairman was also a member of Charlotte’s 4x400m relay team which finished in first place, and the 4x100m relay team which finished second place. The women also won the 400m at the outdoor, with the squad winning a total of four event championships.
Captain of the Ship
Head Coach Bob Olesen has built an elite program that continues to compete year after year for championships. In his time at Charlotte, Olesen has 36 conference championships and 35 as the head coach of the squad. Olesen’s efforts have not gone unnoticed, as he has won a total of 32 Coach of the Year awards. Olesen will look to add to his extensive list of achievements for the squad and himself as they begin competition this weekend.
Source : Charlotte49ers
