VIDEO: David Needs Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.—The Carson-Newman track and field team was picked to finish fourth and sixth in the league by the coaches in the South Atlantic Conference as the preseason polls were released late Thursday night and just prior to the start of the outdoor campaign as the Eagles open the sector Saturday morning at the Power Sox Invitational.

Coming off a fourth-place finish at the 2016 SAC Championships, C-N's men squad was picked to finish fourth in the league this season, just behind Queens, Wingate and Lenoir-Rhyne. The Royals, who won the championships a season ago, took home 72 total votes (eight first-place votes) to claim the top spot while the Bulldogs garnered 55 points and the Bears another 50 points.

The Eagles came in fourth with 46 total points followed by Anderson, Coker, Mars Hill, Lincoln Memorial and Brevard.

On the women's side of the ballot, Carson-Newman placed sixth out of the nine teams in the conference during the preseason polls. With 37 total points, the Eagles placed just behind Queens, Wingate, Anderson, L-R and Coker. The team from Mossy Creek came right in front of Mars Hill, LMU and Brevard in the standings.

The C-N women's track and field team compiled a top-five finish a season ago at the conference meet, and much like on the men's side, Queens claimed the top spot as the defending conference champions by a commanding seven first-place votes. The Bulldogs came in just behind with two first-place votes while no other school received the honor.

The league also pegged Timontrez Eady (Duval County, Fla.), Tanner Stepp (Jefferson City, Tenn.), Priscah Jemeli (Eldorett, Kenya) and Tiana Mills (Chattanooga, Tenn.) to the SAC's watch list as the team's top sprint, distance and field event athletes.

Before the squad will have the chance to try and exceed the preseason prediction at the 2017 SAC Meet that is currently scheduled for April 13-15, C-N will kick off the season at the Power Sox Invitational Saturday morning.

The Moretz Sports Complex/Iren Belk Track Facility that will play host to the meet, on the campus of SAC foe Lenoir-Rhyne, features an eight-lane Mondo SX track with two bi-directional horizontal jump runways, a one shot hammer ring, two discus rings and bi-directional vaulting boxes available.

"We like this track. It's a mondo surface and where they run the conference championships," coach David Needs said. "We need to be able to run and be successful there. There will be a few conference teams there and it will really be the only time we see anybody from conference until the championship meet. This meet will give our team a little preview of where they need to be."

Saturday will mark the fourth year in-a-row that the Eagles have competed in the meet as two C-N athletes provisionally qualified in the competition a season ago with four first-place tallies.

One of the athletes who provisionally qualified in the meet a season ago was then sophomore high jumper, Stepp. Like a calendar year ago, this will be the first meet of the outdoor campaign for the four-time All-American as Stepp looks to lock up his spot for his sixth national appearance right out of the gate.

T.J. Davis (Chattanooga, Tenn.) also had a meet to remember last season at the Power Sox Invitational as the long jumper led a talented pack of athletes with a first-place leap of 6.83 meters. C-N long jumpers Ray Artybridge (Iva, S.C.) and Eady also claimed top-five spots in the event as well a season ago.

Mills, who narrowly missed out on the cutoff to take part in the 2017 NCAA Division II Indoor Championships a week ago, won the triple jump event last season at the meet with a recorded mark of 11.54 meters. The senior is coming off yet another All-Southeast Region selection season as a part of the indoor campaign and is looking to make consecutive trips to the outdoor showcase by season's end.

Carson-Newman sent a program-best four athletes to the 2016 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships a season ago. Stepp, Mills and pole vaulter Tori Gaul (Salisbury, N.C.) are participants who are still currently on the roster who will try and make their case for repeat appearances this spring.  

Stepp is only a week removed from his fifth national showcase as the local product qualified in the men's high jump for the 2017 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships.

"We love going over to Lenoir-Rhyne," Needs said. "It is an easy drive over there and a great place to compete. Hopefully we can get off to the outdoor start we need to this weekend."

2017 South Atlantic Conference T&F Men Preseason Poll

2017 South Atlantic Conference T&F Women Preseason Poll

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