Conference coaches vote C-N men and women fourth in indoor preseason polls

Posted: Jan 07, 2019

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Following the South Atlantic Conference's announcement of the preseason indoor track & field polls on Monday morning, both the men's and women's Carson-Newman programs hold the No. 4 position.

The C-N men received 84 points in the poll with the women grabbing 76. The Eagles edged the Anderson Trojans who rounded out the top-five of both genders and finished behind the likes of Lenoir-Rhyne, Wingate, and Queens who took last year's indoor league title.

Coach David Needs' men's side earned a fourth-place finish in the SAC's inaugural indoor year in 2017-18 with the women earning a sixth-place mark.

"Where we finish in the SAC is important," Needs said. "It certainly has value and you want to win a championship it's one of those goals with an NCAA Championship above that. If we finish fourth, that's not necessarily where we want to be at the end of the year by any means for either side but we think we have athletes who can change that standing. With some of the people we have here we think we can surprise some people and improve that standing."

The league also announced its yearly watch list which features three athletes on both the men's and women's sides of each team, all of which have the opportunity to be standouts in conference meets and beyond. The list includes a sprinter, distance, and field athlete.

A standout during his freshman year, Devon Moore returns as an All-American runner for C-N's group coming off an appearance in the 60m dash at NCAA's following the indoor season. The Baxley, Ga. native, who also plays wide receiver for the Eagles, did not run during the outdoor campaign due to injury. Moore was named the SAC's Indoor Freshman of the Year in 2018 after the championships in which he added national qualifying times in the 60m and 200m dash. He was an all-region selection in both events holding the school record in the 200m at 21.43 seconds.

Kristofer Potts-Howard, who was named the SAC Indoor Athlete of the Year in 2018, was named as a watch list member for the field events. The Tullahoma, Tenn. product collected top-four finishes in three different events during the single-day league championship. He also holds a school record as a member of the 4x400 which came last season (3:24.73). Potts-Howard also grabbed U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic honors and was a USTFCCA All-Region Selection in the long jump.

Luke Greer rounds out the three Eagles named to the watch list as he comes off an All-America year as a cross country standout. The Northhampton, England native broke a school record in his first indoor meet of the year in the 5000-meter run at 14:23.60 on Dec. 8.

"We have people that we can count on," Needs said. "When you put them in a race or the finals of their event they're going to give you their best. These guys have the talent to do what they did last year and more and we have the opportunity to stack some points."

Sophomore Tia Davis earned C-N's watch list member as a sprinter in the women's program after a stellar freshman campaign in which she broke program records in the 60m and 200m events multiple times throughout the year.

As a field athlete, Samantha Gudger returns following an all-region performance in the Southeast Region in the long jump after clearing a distance of 5.87 meters in the final meet of the season. The mark also broke a new school record and helped the Bristol, Tenn. native earn a new lifetime best. Gudger was also a USTFCCCA All-Academic honoree last season.

Rachel Strayer is a C-N distance runner to keep an eye on following her nod as Freshman of the Year following the SAC Cross Country Championships. She set the school record for the 5-kilometer race at the Queens Royals Challenge on October 12th finishing 31st out of 412 runners with a time of 18:13. She finished her freshman cross-country campaign earning All-Conference and All-Region honors with her top-15 finishes at the SAC and Region Championships.

"What you do in cross and what you do in indoor track is very different but Rachel is one of those who can really impress similar to what Devon did last year," Needs said. "We're still in the process of figuring some people but there's still a lot of people we think we can count on for sure."

2019 SAC Men's Indoor Track and Field Preseason Poll

Rank	School	Points (1^st place)
1	Queens	110 (10)
2	Wingate	99
3	Lenoir-Rhyne	91 (1)
4	Carson-Newman	84
5	Anderson	65
6	Tusculum	57
7	Coker	52
8	Catawba	47
9	Lincoln Memorial	45
10	Mars Hill	38
11	Newberry	27

2019 SAC Women's Indoor Track and Field Preseason Poll

Rank	School	Points (1^st place)
1	Queens	107 (7)
2	Wingate	102 (3)
3	Lenoir-Rhyne	92 (1)
4	Carson-Newman	76
5	Anderson	64
6	Coker	63
7	Lincoln Memorial	51
8	Catawba	50
9	Tusculum	48
10	Mars Hill	37
11	Newberry	25