VIDEO: Christian Stumpf Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.—After debuting the 2017 outdoor campaign at the Lenoir-Ryne Southside Power & Fitness Invitational, the Carson-Newman track and field team will be at it again a week later to compete in the Tennessee Rust Buster on Saturday in nearby Knoxville, Tenn.
"We are just trying to continue to move forward on the success we had last week, C-N high jumper Christian Stumpf said. "We had a great week of practice this week and hopefully we will be able to compete well this weekend on the big stage."
The Tennessee Rust Buster will feature a good number of teams who will be attending that span across the Division I, II and NAIA landscapes. Division I schools who will be in attendance besides the host school of Tennessee include Louisville, East Tennessee State, Middle Tennessee State, Central Michigan and more while familiar Division II schools who will be in competition are Edinboro, Mars Hill and Lee.
Saturday's activities will begin with the field events at 9:00 a.m. as the men and women's hammer throw kicks off the activities. The javelin throw will follow along with the long and high jumps. Running events will begin at 12:30 p.m. with the men and women's steeplechase followed by the 4X100 relay teams.
"It's going to be a great experience and I am really looking forward to it," Stumpf said. "As a kid, competing at UT one day was everyone's dream. Being able to run there and on a brand new running surface will be a great experience."
Tennessee, the host school for Saturday's events, boast a number of top-tier Division I athletes while also sporting the reigning 2017 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field National Champion for the 60 and 200 meters in Christian Coleman.
The sprinter took home the gold in the 60 meter dash with a collegiate record time of 6.45 seconds and again in the 200 meters with a 20.11 second time—second fast collegiate time in history. Coleman was named the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's Indoor Track & Field Athlete of the Year on March 14 while also taking home All-American honors in both events and a Southeastern Conference championship in the 60 meters.
Prior to the 2017 indoor season, Coleman took home All-American honors in the 100 and 200 meters a season ago in the outdoor campaign.
A junior, Coleman was not the only Volunteer to garner postseason accolades during the 2017 indoor season as three other athletes from the host school made the trek to the championship sector. Mustaqeem Williams (60 meters), Darryl Sullivan (high jump) and Stamatia Scarvelis (weight throw) also received national qualifying marks to cap off a success indoor season for the Vols.
"It's a great experience getting to see those top-tier athletes competing at the highest level," Stumpf said. "It all goes back to practice. We need to do what we have been doing in practice to compete well this weekend against those athletes. If we do that, hopefully we will have a good showcase."
Carson-Newman is coming off the Lenoir-Rhyne Southside Power & Fitness Invitational on March 18 where four athletes received first-place finishes on the day. Tiana Mills (Chattanooga, Tenn.) led the pack by taking home the gold in both the long jump (5.52 meters) and triple jump (11.49 meters) while T.J Davis (Chattanooga, Tenn.) logged the top-mark in the men's long jump (7.04 meters).
Stumpf tallied a first-place finish in the men's high jump with a 2.00 meters recording while Kristofer Potts-Howard (Tullahoma, Tenn.) took home the top prize in the men's triple jump with a 13.96 meter mark.
In all, the Eagles posted 20 top-20 finishes at the facility that will host the 2017 South Atlantic Conference Championships.
The meet on the campus of the University of Tennessee invites excitement for a number of reasons. Besides the fact that a great deal of the Carson-Newman track and field athletes grew up in the East Tennessee area and spent years rooting on the various sports teams the Vols have formulated. The Tennessee Rust Busters will also be the first meet since renovations have been made to the Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium in 2016.
Changes to the facility saw the rearranging of the infield and the refinishing of the running surface. The track now also features a Smokey Grey surface with orange accents and white lines. Phase two of the renovation process is set to commence in the coming year as the project will entail the building of the Boyd Family Track & Field Center in the northwest corner of the track.
Keep up with the Eagles all throughout Saturday by following the club's Twitter account @CN_Track. A complete recap will also be available on cneagles.com following the day of events.
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