VIDEO: David Needs Interview
HICKORY, N.C.— The Carson-Newman track and field team wrapped up day one of events at the South Atlantic Conference Track and Field Championships with the men standing second and the women fifth halfway through 2016's conference showdown at the Irwin Belk Track on the campus of Lenoir-Rhyne.
"We need to make sure that in every finals event that we are in tomorrow, we need to score," coach David Needs said. "I feel good about that. I feel like last year there were some events that we wouldn't have performed well in that we will tomorrow. We need to take advantage of the individual field events like the triple jump and throwing events in order to score some points there."
Carson-Newman's 100m and 200m dash men prelim sectors were owned by Kevin Snead (Richmond, Va.) and Kieran Showler-Davis (England). Snead finished with a first-place time of 10.75 seconds in the 100m while Showler-Davis ran his first race of the season with a meet-best 21.89 second time in the 200m dash.
Timontrez Eady (Duval County, Fla.) also qualified for the finals round in the 100m with a 10.99 second time in the event while Snead cracked the top-eight times in the 200m after sprinting a 22.22 second fifth-place time.
The finals for both the men's 100m and 200m dashes will be held Saturday afternoon.
"It's survive and advance today. You need to do enough today in order to get to tomorrow so you can make it happen," Needs said. "Tomorrow, there is nothing to hold back for. They just have to be ready to go. Those guys give us a good boost."
For the second-consecutive year, Tanner Stepp (Jefferson City, Tenn.) finished second in the men's high jump after matching Wingate's Isaiah Kyle's 2.11m height in his second attempt. Christian Stumpf (Johnson City, Tenn.) also landed on the podium at the conclusion of the day as the freshman tallied a third-place jump of 1.96m.
Kristopher Potts-Howard (Tullahoma, Tenn.) received a qualifying time for men's 400m dash finals as the freshman completed the prelims sector with an eighth-best 50.26 seconds.
Arguably one of the most competitive events on the day came in one of the day's late events as three Eagles finished in the top-four while Ray Artybridge (Iva Tenn.) won the men's long jump with a 7.09m mark. T.J. Davis (Chattanooga, Tenn.) finished third-best following a 7.01m leap while Eady came in fourth at 6.90m.
"With Ray, it's amazing. He got off to a late start with us but has come in and done a great job," Needs said. "He was able to get that one big jump that you need at the conference meet. That is not to diminish what T.J. and Tim did either. They came in to finish three and four and came in right behind a guy who set a personal-best."
Lachlan Dickie (Knoxville, Tenn.) completed the day for the men by extending his own school record in the men's 10,000m run with a third-place finish of 31.48.01 time.
On the women's side, Tiana Mills (Chattanooga, Tenn.) tallied two top-five finishes on the day in the women's long and high jumps. The junior leapt a third-best 5.31m mark in the long jump and a tallied a fourth-place finish of 1.52m in the high jump.
Samantha Gudger (Bristol, Tenn.) accounted for three top-10 marks on Friday afternoon. The sophomore finished eighth in the long jump following a 5.12m leap, qualified for the finals round in the 100m hurdles prelims after finishing with a 16.07 second time and placed-third overall in the women's high jump with a 1.57m mark.
"We have a couple of people who are beatun up right now, but they are out here competing for their team," Needs said. "That is where we need to be and you can't ask for anything more."
The Eagles will resume action Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. looking to keep the strong pace set in Friday's opening events.
Women Results
Long Jump
3) Tiana Mills 5.31m
8) Samantha Gudger 5.12m
11) Erika Zackery 4.86m
14) Cassie Kowalski 4.69m
15) Tori Gaul 4.67m
Javelin
10) Tori Gaul 26.47m
12) Bre Lockett 25.01m
13) Christianna Smith 24.62m
14) Erika Zackery 24.26m
18) Kiayna O'Neal 18.93m
High Jump
3) Samantha Gudger 1.57m
4) Tiana Mills 1.52m
1500m Prelims
5) Hannah Green 5:16.92- Qualified
6) Priscah Jemeli 5:22.84- Qualified
7) Ashlyne Page 5:26.10-Qualified
100m hurdles
7) Samantha Gudger 16.07-Qualified
100m Dash Prelims
19) Cassie Smith 13.32 seconds
20) Cassie Kowalski 13.51 seconds
400m Dash Prelims
5) Shauntae Miller 59.39 seconds- Qualified
9) Madison Pickel 1:01.85
13) Jessica Capron 1:03.78
800m Prelims
9) Priscah jemeli 2:25.67-Qualified
10) Sarah Sharp 2:26.06
11) Aiyana Martino 2:29.25
13) Kathleen O'Neill 2:31.48
24) Ashlyne Page 2:58.42
400m Hurdles Prelims
8) Erika Zackery 1:09.13-Qualified
200m Dash Prelims
14) Madison Pickel 26.73 seconds
15) Shauntae Miller 26.81 seconds
16) Cassie Smith 26.82 seconds
3000m Steeplechase
7) Amber Farmer 13:16.33
8) Sky McCarter 13:24.33
9) Jennifer Warren 13:27.37
10) Rebekah White 13:30.69
10,000m Run
11) Sara Honaker 41.49.62
Men Results
Javelin
7) Tanner Stepp 43.42m
11) Christian Stumpf 38.82m
13) Marshall Shank 38.30m
14) Lee Wells 37.52m
18) Jason Williams 31.78m
High Jump
2) Tanner Stepp 2.11m
3) Christian Stumpf 1.96m
T10) Celmen Bellamy 1.76m
T10) T.J. Davis 1.76m
Long Jump
1) Ray Artybridge 7.09m
3) T.J. Davis 7.01m
4) Timontrez Eady 6.90m
11) Jason Williams 6.28m
1500m Prelims
11) Luke Greer 4:11.52
14) Joshua Marsh 4:23.89
15) Kellan Sabol 4:32.80
400m Dash Prelims
8) Kristofer Potts-Howard 50.26 seconds-Qualified
14) Christian Stumpf 51.20 seconds
17) Jeremiah McCarter 51.84 seconds
18) Matthew Melton 53.10 seconds
100m Dash Prelims
1) Kevin Snead 10.75 seconds-Qualified
5) Timontrez Eady 10.99 seconds-Qualified
14) Cole Potter 11.28 seconds
18) D.J. Luster 11.48 seconds
19) Jason Williams 11.53 seconds
800m Prelims
9) Anthony Jackson 1:59.06-Qualified
14) Joshua Marsh 2:09.62
16) Colin Smith 2:10.67
400m Hurdles Prelims
6) Aaron Seward 57.05 seconds-Qualified
200m Dash Prelims
1) Kieran Showler-Davis 21.89 seconds-qualified
4) Kevin Snead 22.22 seconds-Qualified
18) Kristofer Potts-Howard 22.89 seconds
19) Matt Rust 22.94 seconds
22) Cole Potter 23.18 seconds
3000m Steeplechase
12) Kellan Sabol 11:17.30
10,000m Run
3) Lachlan Dickie 31:48.01
-CN-
