COLUMBUS, Ohio—Kevin Snead (Richmond, Va.) put forth a solid outing Saturday afternoon as the junior strung together two third-place finishes and ran the fourth-fastest 200m dash time in Division II as of today, April 23 at the Jesse Owens Track & Field Classic hosted by Ohio State.
"One of those things that I love about Kevin is that he looks for great completion and never shies away from it," Carson-Newman coach David Needs said following the monumental day. "He ran extremely well today in a field full of Olympic hopefuls and he can only get better as the season progresses because the competition will continue to get better. To run at a historical meet like the Jessie Owens Track & Field Classic and to do as well as he did is a great representation of who we are at Carson-Newman and makes me proud to be a coach."
Snead completed the 200m sector with a personal-best time of 20.75 seconds which was good enough for a third-place overall finish. As of Saturday April 23, the time stands as the fourth-fast time in Division II and does all but guarantee the sprinter a spot in the 2016 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
To become an automatic qualifier in the men's 200m dash, a sprinter must match or surpass a time of 20.70 seconds. Snead's time of 20.75 seconds extended his own school record in the event for the third time this season.
The junior provisionally qualified in the event last weekend at the South Atlantic Conference Track & Field Championships with a first-place time of 21.51 seconds on April 16.
Snead also tallied a third-place finish in the men's 100m dash after completing the event with a second persona-best time of 10.35 seconds.
Freshman pole vaulter Marshall Shank (Granite Quarry, N.C.) also competed in the meet but recorded a NH in the men's pole vault.
The meet hosted by Ohio State was named after four-time Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens. The track and field athlete who won four individual NCAA championships in both 1935 and 1936 attended Ohio State and was known as the "Buckeye Bullet."
The athlete was also the inspiration for the 2016 releasing of 'Race'—a 2 hour and 14 min film based on the life of Jesse Owens and his quest to become the greatest track and field athlete in the history of the sport.
Snead, Shank and eight other Carson-Newman track and field athletes who qualified will begin competition once more next weekend at the Penn Relays on April 28-30.
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