BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C. - Carson-Newman returns to the Tar Heel state for a two-day challenge in Black Mountain at the Montreat Invitational.
The field will include a whopping 32 teams from Division I, Division II, Division III and the NAIA levels. Live stats for both days can be found on cneagles.com or on the Montreat athletics website. NO FANS WILL BE ALLOWED TO ATTEND THE EVENT.
The last time the Eagles competed at the Montreat Invitational wwas almost two years ago to the day. The team won 10 total events, still the school record for first-place finishes at a single meet.
"A lot of our young kids did well and it was good to see them work hard in what was really their first event for them at Carson-Newman," says Director of Track & Field and Cross Country David Needs.
Devon Moore won the 100 meter run with a time of 10.40 seconds to rank him at second in the nation. Tia Davis also won the 100 meter run with a time of 12.21 seconds, while Trayzel Jureidini-Wyche collected an event win after a toss of 45.30 meters in the discus.
Ashton Abbott set a new school record for C-N in the discus throw clearing 37.08 meters and collecting a seventh-place finish at the event in 2019.
Current Carson-Newman coaches Kris Potts-Howard and Sam Gudger also competed in Black Mountain, winning titles in the triple jump and long jump.
The Eagles are coming off one of the hottest starts in program history, winning nine events at the LR Bears Open in Hickory, N.C. The team also set 54 new outdoor personal bests.
Isaiah Kyle lead the way with an emphatic victory in the high jump, winning the event with a clearance of 2.11 meters. That mark is a provisional mark for the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships and ranks Kyle at third in the nation.
"2018 was the last time Kyle jumped," says Needs. "It was cool and windy but he got there and said 'I'm here to jump.' And he won the event. And that's what you want, athletes who don't care about the weather or who they're racing against."
Sterling Melancon continued his strong freshman season, winning the 100 meter run by 0.18 seconds with a time of 10.78 seconds. The Mount Juliet, Tenn. native also had a strong day in the 200 meter run, finishing third with a time of 22.22 seconds.
Both men's relay championships were won by the Eagles. The group of Zuriel Jimpson, Melancon, Jordan Hibbert and Moore won the 4x100 relay with a time of 41.50 seconds. Moore, Raymond Brugmans, Melancon and Isaiah Weasby won the 4x400 relay by almost 10 seconds, finishing with a time of 3:24.43. That time is just six seconds away from tying the school record time of 3:17.00 set in 1975.
After winning his first ever indoor event in February, Josh Whitaker continued his dominance in opening weekend meets, winning the men's pole vault in his first career outdoor collegiate event, with a clearance of 4.50 meters, a height 0.15 meters higher than the second place finisher.
The Eagles dominance in the long jump this winter transitioned to the outdoor season as Theo Devillard won the event with a jump of 7.00 meters, a distance 0.15 meters longer than the second-place finisher.
On the women's side, Nathalie Schumacher won the high jump with a personal best clearance of 1.64 meters. That was her fourth event win of the 2021 track & field overall season as Schumacher won her first three indoor event championships.
Abby Owens finished tied for first in the pole vault with a clearance of 3.35 meters, a new personal best and her second event win of the overall year.
Susan Nelson was literally leaps and bounds ahead of the competition, winning the long jump with a jump of 5.35 meters, a full 0.40 meters (1'3") further than the second-place finisher.
The rest of the day was filled with several top-10 finishes from the rest of the Eagles squad and the team set 54 outdoor personal bests.
"I was blessed to work with Coach Ken Sparks," says Needs. "And he said that between week one and week two or meet one and meet two is when you see the biggest development. That's the challenge I issued to the team at practice. Embrace the challenge from last week and let's see if they're plyable and can fix the mistakes they made or possibly do even better."
Following this weekend, the Eagles will take a week off before preparing for the final regular season outdoor meet on Apr. 9 in Cleveland, Tenn. at the Lee Invitational.
