National Athlete of the Week Release
ROCK HILL, S.C. - With the arguably the school's best run in the Division II era over the weekend, Devon Moore has been named a National Athlete of the Week as well as the South Atlantic Conference Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week following his performance at the Tennessee Relays. He becomes the first Eagle in the program's history to receive national recognition.
"To have an athlete recognized as the National Athlete of the Week is special," Coach David Needs said. "We are extremely proud of Devon for earning this honor. While his sprint certainly has historical significance, it is a great achievement for this program too."
➡️ @ReallVon
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) April 16, 2019
The first @CN_Track athlete to be honored on the national level following Tuesday's @USTFCCCA announcement. pic.twitter.com/j65ewWw4Hy
Moore earns his third conference honor of the season following Tuesday morning's announcement. Since the league started recognizing athletes with the weekly award in 2014, no athlete has received the honor three times in a single season including the separate field category.
The Baxley, Ga. product was invited to the Tennessee Relays on Friday, April 12 to run with Division I athletes in the 100-meter dash as the only D2 sprinter in the event.
The event time at the Tom Black Track at Laporte Stadium featured on ESPN3, came in at 10.12 seconds as Moore collected a victory in the event for the third time during the year, a perfect three-for-three.
Moore garnered a new program record defeating Kevin Snead's 2016 time in the event which stood at 10.21. Moore makes the leap from the No. 4 time in Division II to the best time so far this outdoor season by .19 seconds where SAC foe Widchard Guervil of Tusculum ran a 10.31 time at the Gamecock Invitational. With the time, Moore is fourth in the nation in the event across all NCAA divisions and is the 12th-fastest time in all conditions in D2 history.
For the 3️⃣rd time this year, @ReallVon has been named the @SAC_Athletics Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week. pic.twitter.com/uhx5YWMXqd
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) April 16, 2019
"This is all well deserved for Devon," Needs said. "That was one of the best performances in any event ever. He has worked hard to get to this point and I'm excited to see him continue to develop. We are extremely proud of him."
He topped runners from Auburn, Cincinnati, Indiana, Kentucky, N.C. State, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, among other D1 powerhouses in attendance. The next closest runner from a University came from the Volunteers Mustaqeem Williams who finished at 10.23 seconds. Unattached runner Rondel Sorillo finished runner-up at 10.17 seconds. Moore was set to take place in the 200-meter dash later that night but pulled out due to precautionary reasons with the SAC Championships slated for later this week.
Competing in the outdoor season as a freshman after redshirting in 2018, his previous career-best time came at the Montreat College Invitational on March 29-30 where he ran the event in 10.40 seconds, a time that was second-best in the nation when it happened.
Remain in touch with the latest news on C-N Track & Field as the team heads to Hickory, N.C. on April 18-20 for the outdoor league championships.
-CN-