It was a day of great news for the ASU track and field team in Charlotte, N.C., on Wednesday, the final day before competition begins for the NCAA Division II National Track and Field Championships.

The day began with the news that freshman thrower Kim Williams had arrived late Tuesday night and will get to compete in the shot put at the national meet after replacing a late scratch. Williams won the shot put competition at the 2010 Lone Star Conference Championships.

The afternoon brought another late addition to the party as sophomore thrower Jayda Spencer arrived to compete in the discus.  The 'Belles now have nine athletes competing as they vie for the university's first national championship in track and field.

Capping the day was the annual banquet for competitors and coaches at the Charlotte Convention Center.  There it was announced that the Rambelles had swept the top awards for coaches and athletes in the South Central Region.  Heptathlete Aisha Adams was named the Region Female Field Athlete of the Year and sprinter Celethia Byrd was named the Region Female Track Athlete of the Year, though both almost missed their presentations as they had picked an inopportune time to visit the restroom and the organizers had changed the banquet schedule. 

Region Women's Coach of the Year honors went to ASU head coach James Reid.  ASU's Tom Dibbern will get to pick up his award for Region Women's Assistant Coach of the Year at the coach's meeting Saturday morning.

In between all the glad tidings, it was another routine day in Charlotte.  After a team breakfast at the hotel, the ASU athletes and coaches headed for the Irwin Belk Complex for workouts and meetings.  Just "dynamic" workouts for the athletes - though pole vaulter Jacob McDonald did get to take his first jumps, and Williams got in some practice throws in the shot put area.  As many of the other teams have also arrived, the ASU group did not have the track to itself as it had on Monday and Tuesday.  There was also a lot of other activity as organizers were getting things set up for Thursday's competitions.

After workouts, junior sprinter Ryan Adkins joked about going to get some convenience store chicken for lunch, an action that had previously had dire consequences.

"The last time I did that, I got food poisoning at the Texas Relays," Adkins said.  "I ran the 100, but I didn't do well because I was throwing up before and after the race.  Then, I almost couldn't run the 4x100 the next day because I was so dehydrated.  I had the worst Austin trip ever."

Reid then attended several coaches meetings to pick up heat sheets, numbers and credentials for all the coaches and athletes.  The athletes spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the hotel and getting ready for the banquet.

On Thursday, ASU athletes will compete in eight events.  Rambelles will compete in the heptathlon, 4x100-meter relay, 400-meter dash, long jump and 400-meter hurdles.  Rams will compete in the 4x100-meter relay, 400-meter dash and 400-meter hurdles.  All the events are preliminaries except the heptathlon and long jump.

Fun Facts

• ASU now has three freshmen who will compete at the 2010 national meet, thrower Kim Williams, sprinter Isidro Garcia and triple jumper Austin Slone.

"I love it," Slone said.  "I really don't get nervous when it comes to meets and jumping.  I just get anxious and real hyper, and making it my freshman year just lets me know that there are going to be good things in the future.  I love it so far."

• Reigning national champion heptathlete Aisha Adams does not like to eat breakfast, which is generally acknowledged as the most important meal of the day.

"It's nasty," Adams said.  "I can't eat before a certain time or else I get sick.  I'm just not a breakfast person."

• Rambelles seniors Andria Nussey and Chrystal Ruiz will be competing at the same complex where they also competed at the national meet as freshmen in 2007, coming full circle as they wrap up their stellar track and field careers at ASU.

"Everything didn't go the way I wanted it to my freshman year," Nussey said.  "So, this is a chance to re-do it and hopefully have a great ending to what was a great beginning.  We were babies when we were here before, and now we are grown.  It's kind of cool, and we really do like the stadium, the scenery and seeing the gorgeous skyline over by the track.  It's really amazing."

"Our freshman year when we were here, we were definitely babies," Ruiz said.  "Since then we've grown up so much.  It's kind of neat to see how much we've grown up, not just as athletes, but also as people.  It's exciting because they will get to see something different from us than what they did our first year."