GREENSBORO, N.C.—The Carson-Newman track and field team put a bow on the 2017 regular season as seven Eagles pitched their final cases for the 2017 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships with the North Carolina A&T Last Chance Meet Sunday afternoon.
"Today was one of those meets you go to and hope to do well with the quality there. Everyone is trying for a last chance to break into nationals," coach David Needs said. "Tiana's [Mills] triple jump was an improvement and probably propelled her up a few spots in the regional rankings, but probably wasn't enough to get into nationals. Tori [Gaul] won the pole vault today but needed another bar. Regardless, I am proud of the kids today. They finished off a great outdoor season and represented our program and university the right way."
The meet saw six top-10 finishes for the Eagles with a first-place showing from junior Tori Gaul (Salisbury, N.C.) in the women's pole vault. Gaul, a two-time national qualifier, took home the gold with a 3.65 meter mark in the event. The upcoming senior garnered her second-highest mark of the season Sunday afternoon to bring a strong finish to an injury-plagued junior campaign.
Aside from Gaul in the pole vault, C-N reeled in three more top-five finishes on the day with Tanner Stepp (Jefferson City, Tenn.) in the men's high jump and Tiana Mills (Chattanooga, Tenn.) in the women's triple and long jumps.
Stepp, who came into the day tied for fourth in the county, recorded a fourth-place showing of 2.06 meters. The junior and four-time All-American is a virtual lock for the outdoor championships and will look to continue the successful outdoor campaign two weeks from now in Bradenton, Fla.
Mills likely concluded a highly successful Eagle career Sunday afternoon with two top-five finishes in the horizontal jumps. The South Atlantic Conference long jump champion placed fifth in the event Sunday afternoon with a 5.67 meter marking and gained a spot in the triple jump later in the afternoon with a fourth-place leap of 11.89 meters.
Like Mills, fellow senior and Chattanooga, Tenn. native T.J. Davis will have to wait and see if his previous highs on the season will be good enough to propel him into national consideration as the long jumper tallied an eighth-place finish in the event with a mark of 7.03 meters.
"If those were the last jumps for Tiana [Mills] and T.J. [Davis] today, I just can't say enough about those two and how they raised the level of our program. T.J. a three-time long jump champion over four years and Tiana won some championships and ranked high in the region every year as well. We are indebted to them for their years of service to this program because they made us better. I can't be any more proud of them."
On the brink of national consideration in C-N's Kristofer Potts-Howard (Tullahoma, Tenn.) in the men's long jump. Coming into the day, the sophomore ranked 17th in the nation with a 7.44 meter mark at the Tennessee rust Buster back on March 25. Sunday saw the long jumper place ninth, right behind Davis, with a recording of 6.97 meters.
Aside from Stepp, Potts-Howard is the next-closest Eagle who can break the 16-athlete cutoff to join the elite in the outdoor championships. The sophomore will be waiting patiently for the national announcement to be made in the coming days.
Carson-Newman's final two participants Sunday afternoon at the North Carolina A&T Last Chance Meet were a pair of 400 meter hurdlers in Caleb Agee and Holly Talbut-Smith. The latter brought in the 15th-best time of the day on the women's side with a time of 1:07.27 while the former finished 26th on the men's side with a time of 55.82 seconds.
Both underclassmen, Agee won the event at the South Atlantic Conference Meet while Talbut-Smith has notched a top-five performance in the Southeast Region.
The NCAA will announce the field for the 2017 Outdoor Track & Field Championship in the coming days as Carson-Newman hopes to send at least two athletes to the showcase for the second-consecutive season.
"We will be okay. We just need to wait and see," Needs concluded. "If it is just Tanner [Stepp] and Kris [Potts-Howard] going to nationals this year, we are still excited and ready to go. But again, so proud of every one of our athletes."
Carson-Newman Results
Tiana Mills: Long Jump 5th-place 5.67 meters
Triple Jump 4th-place 11.89 meters
Kristofer Potts-Howard: Long Jump 9th-place 6.97 meters
T.J. Davis: Long Jump 8th-place 7.03 meters
Tori Gaul: Pole Vault 1st-place 3.65 meters
Tanner Stepp: High Jump 4th-place 2.06 meters
Holly Talbut-Smith: 400 meter hurdles 15th-place 1:07.27
Caleb Agee 400 meter Hurdles 26th-place 55.82 seconds
-CN-
