Agee notches an individual title as the Eagles conclude the league championships

Posted: Apr 15, 2017

HICKORY. N.C.— The Carson-Newman track and field team wrapped up competition at the 2017 South Atlantic Conference Track & Field Championships Saturday afternoon in Hickory, N.C. with another individual top-place finish as the Eagle men took home a fourth-place honors while the women placed sixth.

"We did a great job overall this weekend. I think this is the third year in a row that we scored over 90 points on the men's side. I am proud of everyone. We had some guys who ran that did some really good things," coach David Needs said. "It's a conference meet, everyone is going to show out so you have to be at your very best. For the most part, I am please but I know we need to get better. Next year needs to be a better version of Carson-Newman."

Caleb Agee was the lone Eagle to bring home a first-place finish on the second day of the league championship as the freshman won the men's 400 meter hurdles with a time of 55.25 seconds. Picking up his first career individual championship, Agee tallied 10 team points while finishing 0.48 seconds in front of Coker's Tyrick Sampson, who finished in second-place.

Agee's performance, along with a strong field of play Saturday coupled with the first-place showings from T.J. Davis (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and Marshall Shank (Granite Quarry, N.C.) in the men's long jump and pole vault Friday evening, propelled the C-N men's club to a fourth-place finish to conclude the weekend.

Ahead of C-N on the men's side in the final standings were Queens (215), Wingate (156) and the host school in Lenoir-Rhyne (107). In fifth right behind the Eagles were Anderson (91) followed by Coker (48), Lincoln Memorial (43) and Mars Hill (41).

"For our guys, I thought we did well. Yesterday was our points day but we still had some bright spots today," Carson-Newman coach David Needs said. "Today, Kris [Potts-Howard] did well in the triple and Caleb [Agee] was very inspired in the hurdles. It was good to have a freshman win and he ran strong. He led from wire-to-wire in that race and I am very proud of him."

For the women's final standings, Winagte (237.5) took home the top prize followed by Queens (162), Coker (132.5), L-R (127.5) and Anderson (79). The Eagles came in next in sixth with 46.5 total team points while Mars Hill (15) and LMU (5) followed.

"On the women's side, you can't say anything but positive things about Tiana [Mills]," Needs said. "She did so well this weekend and today with another second-place finish in the triple jump. We knew we were beat up in some places on the women's side with some people out because of injury, but our women did as much as they could. We don't want to ever finish sixth, but our girls competed hard."

The women were paced once again Saturday by another solid performance by Tiana Mils (Chattanooga, Tenn.) as the senior finished second in the women's triple jump with a mark of 11.71 meters. The triple jump was the highest-placing Eagle on the day for the women as Mills secured eight more points for the squad.

In the 4X100 meter relay, Carson-Newman's 'A' team of Madison Pickel (Sevierville, Tenn.) Cassie Smith (Knoxville, Tenn.), Alexis Sczerba (Bridgeport, W.Va.) and Shelby Reynolds picked up a fourth-place finish with a time of 50.34 seconds—good enough for five team points.

Holly Talbut-Smith (Crawly, England) improved one spot from a day earlier as the sophomore tallied a fifth-place finish in the women's 400 meter hurdles finals round with a time of 1:08.16. Christianna Smith (Knoxville, Tenn.) was the lone other women Eagle to pick up a top-10 finish as the junior placed eighth-overall in the shot put with a distance of 10.91 meters.

Aside from Agee's first-place finish in the 400 meter hurdles, Carson-Newman had seven other top-10 performances on the day.

In the men's triple jump, Kristofer Potts-Howard (Tullahoma, Tenn.) took home the silver with a 14.57 meter mark while T.J. Davis (Chattanooga, Tenn.) placed fourth-overall with a 14.12 mark. Davis was coming off his third SAC title in the men's long jump Friday evening.

Logan Pender and Jaysen Cook-Calhoun reeled in top-10 marks in the men's shot put as Pender finished in seventh-place with a mark of 13.12 meters while Cook-Calhoun came in just three spots behind with a 12.76 meter mark. The latter also posted a seventh-place finish in the discus throw as the sophomore tallied a 38.64 meter posting.

Timontrez Eady (Duval County, Fla.) took part in the finals round of the 200 meter dash and did so by finishing eighth with a 22.33 second time. The sophomore was the long Eagle on the men's side to take part in a finals round of the sprint circuits.

All in all, Carson-Newman exits the 2017 SAC Track & Field Championships with four wins after Agee, Mills, Davis and Shank took home gold medals. C-N finished in line with the preseason polls as the men placed fourth overall and then women in sixth.

"I have some pretty incredible assistant coaches who have done an outstanding job all year and this weekend included," Needs said. "They pushed out kids to make some things happen. I am extremely blessed to have the staff that I have."

The Eagles will now set their sights towards individual competition as a number of athletes will make the push towards the 2017 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships with a select few trying ti improve their national rankings.

Carson-Newman will resume action in two weeks on April 27 at the historic Penn Relays as Needs and a select few of athletes will make the trek to compete on the national stage.

Carson-Newman Women

Shot Put

8) Christianna Smith 10.91 meters

10) Faith Long 10.39 meters

15) Jasmine Johnson 8.76 meters

Discus Throw

10) Ashton Abbott 30.64 meters

12) Tiana Mills 28.23 meters

14) Christianna Smith 25.95 meters

17) Jasmine Johnson 19.67 meters

Triple Jump

2) Tiana Mills 11.71 meters