JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.—Saturday marked the first meet of the 2017 year as the Carson-Newman track and field team took part in day one of activities at the East Tennessee State University Track & Field Invitational in the Mini-Dome.
"Today's successes are in personal-best times. This is the first meet after being off for a month," Needs said. "You are hoping that you are improving and the training you did in the fall will show. We are happy with what we had today."
Highlighting the day of Eagle action was Tiana Mills (Chattanooga, Tenn.) who provisionally qualified for the 2017 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships in the women's triple jump after posting a distance of 11.58 meters.
The mark was the second-highest of Mill's indoor career as the senior posted an 11.86 meter mark at the same facility last year during the Buccaneer Invitational. Mills took part in her first competition at the NCAA ranks last season at the 2016 Outdoor Championships and has taken step one to making her first trip to the indoor showcase.
Other standouts during Friday's event included Noah Hill (Nashville, Tenn.) in the 60 meter dash. Hill was one of four Eagles to compete in the event on the men's side and did so by posting a personal-best 7.05 second time. The junior has recorded person-bests each of the past two meets.
Three Carson-Newman athletes posted top-20 performances Friday as Mills and Shelby Reynolds took home fifth and 18th-place honors in the women's triple jump and Caleb Agee came in 15th in the men's 400 meter prelims.
Reynolds mark came in just shy of the 10.75 meters tally while Agee's time was 51.28 seconds in the event.
There were also a number of Eagle athletes who did not compete in the day due to various injuries. Still, Needs believed today to be an opportunity to get better and a chance to evaluate progress.
"We have some injured people who did not compete today and others who are not back yet. Marshall [Shank] and Tori [Gaul] are two that are nicked up and did not compete today and those two big guns in the pole vault," Needs said. "Getting healthy is something that will come in time.
"Noah ran the best time he has ever run and that is something to celebrate. Anthony Jackson ran a good 800 with a hurt hamstring," Needs said. "You want to see how runners improve from month one to month two. What the hope is that we can continue to get better. Where we run and compete in the next two weeks has a lot to do with it."
Carson-Newman will return to action Saturday morning at 8 a.m. with the women's 3000 meter run. Follow @CN_Track on Twitter for continuous updates throughout the day and check into cneagles.com following the action for a complete recap.
Carson-Newman Women
400m prelims: 39) Madison Pickel 1:05.37
43) Jessica Capron 1:09.26
Triple Jump: 5) Tiana Mills 11.58 meters
18) Shelby Reynolds 10.73 meters
60 meters prelims: 47) Cassie Smith 8.45 seconds
5000 meter run: 24) Rebekah White 20:53.05
27) Lindsey Williams 21:12.40
28) Sara Honaker 21:15.24
32) Priscah Jemeli 21:53.61
37) Esther Njeri 23:17.80
Carson-Newman Men
60m Hurdles: 22) Trent Brewington 8.84 seconds
400m prelims: 15) Caleb Agee 51.28 seconds
25) Jeremiah McCarter 51.79 seconds
31) Ray Tiller 52.34 seconds
60 meters prelims: 20) Noah Hill 7.05 seconds
24) Timontrez Eady 7.07 seconds
37) Jason Williams 7.22 seconds
45) Drake McCowan 7.34 seconds
800 meters: 20) Anthony Jackson 2:01.86
200 meter prelims: 26) Timontrez Eady 22.71 seconds
55) Drake McCowan 23.94 seconds
5000 meter run: 43) Amos Korir 17:32.25
-CN-
