SALEM, Va. – Day two of the Bast-Cregger Invitational at Roanoke College commenced on Saturday evening with Carson-Newman Track & Field wrapping up its first meet of the indoor season.
Caleb Agee earned the victory in the 800-meter dash with a time of 2:01.23 edging Alexander Caines of Washington and Lee at 2:01.36. The time four Agee was .01 off his personal-best.
Kristofer Potts-Howard completed the long jump with a fifth-place finish at 6.62m followed by junior James Wilson's time at 6.52m. Both athletes competed in the high jump in yesterday's festivities. Christian Stumpf's return following a year in which he was injured, secured the 13th spot at 6m even.
A native of Fontana, Cal., Wilson also claimed second-place in the triple jump clearing 14.72 meters to notch a school record and personal-best. The previous record was held by teammate Jahvad McDermott who landed a 14.69-meter jump last season.
"Just impressed with what James was able to do," Coach Tyler Stepp said. "He was ineligible last year so he hadn't had any competition in a long time. I knew he could do it based on what his training has been like but he exceeded expectations this weekend. It puts him in a great position to grow over Christmas and get that national qualifier. James is a great guy and just couldn't be happier for him.
Tia Davis (7.84) and Amanda Lowe (7.99) each grabbed the top two spots in the women's 60-meter dash preliminary races with first and second place finishes respectively. Both placements earned a spot in the finals which was slated for later in the day. The mark for Davis is a new personal best in her time as an Eagle topping her previous high of 7.91 seconds last season at the South Atlantic Conference Indoor Championships.
Heading into the semifinal race, once again Davis and Lowe hit the top-two finishes with Davis breaking her own record from last season with a time of 7.84 seconds, .07 better than the previous mark. Lowe came in at the same time as the first heat with a 7.99.
"For Tia to step in and have that PR and school record is great for her," Coach Stepp said. "We expected her to be fast but we also hope she can continue to progress and that she's not done. Amanda has run great and we hope the same for her. With those two, we still have a lot of upside left two if we can piece together some things."
Davis (Ooltewah, Tenn.) collected the victory in the finals with a time of 7.90 seconds, .11 better than Claire Aurand of Roanoke. Lowe was barely edged by Aurand and finished third at 8.02 seconds.
Samantha Gudger was the top finisher in the long jump at 5.40 meters followed by Shelby Reynolds in second place with a mark of 5.20m.
Reynolds competed in her third event of the weekend grabbing sixth in the 200-meter with a time of 27.64 seconds.
Austin Gramann took home second-place in the men's shot put with a mark of 11.19 meters. It's the first time the Bryson City, N.C. native competed in the event in his time at C-N. Emory & Henry freshman Edward Rajner held the top spot at 12.06m. Another first-year athlete for C-N in Jess Bumgardner cleared 9.68m in his first event as an Eagle.
Other throwers to compete for the Eagles included Draven Green (12.67m) and Logan Pender (11.39m) who finished sixth and seventh in the weight throw.
The women's weight throw featured two C-N athletes with sophomore Ashton Abbott earning a spot at No. 13 after clearing a distance of 10.94 meters. Freshman Faith Long sat three spots back with a throw of 10.52m.
In the 400m run, junior Jeremiah McCarter collected a top-10 finish with a time of 52.93 seconds which was good enough for ninth.
C-N will turn its heads to the Appalachian State Invitational Dec. 9.
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