BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Carson-Newman men's sprints squad began the 2021-22 indoor track season with a solid start at the Birmingham Southern Indoor Icebreaker on Friday, Dec. 3.
"It was a decent rust buster for everyone," says Associate Director of Track & Field and Sprints coach Kieran Showler-Davis. "There were no PRs but they all put down decent marks to work off of going forward. It showed us the things we need to work on the next 5-6 weeks before going into the real indoor season, which I'm excited about."
The day began with three Eagles competing in the 60 meter run prelims. Lee University transfer Siphosethu Boya won his heat in his first career race at Carson-Newman with a time of 7.00 seconds, beating out former Lee teammate Alexander Tate by 0.04 seconds.
Sterling Melancon and Florida State transfer Tshenelo Lemao competed together in heat two of the 60 meter run. Lemao finished second in the heat with a time of 7.01 seconds while Melancon finished right behind him at third in the heat with a time of 7.05 seconds.
All three Eagles advanced to the semifinals with Boya finishing fourth overall in the prelims, while Lemao finished eighth overall. Melancon finished 13th overall as the top-32 runners advanced to the next round.
In the semifinals, Boya won his second straight heat of the day with a time of 6.96. Melancon finished right behind Boya with a time of 6.97 seconds. Lemao finished fourth in his heat with a time of 7.01 seconds for the second straight run. Boya's time was fourth fastest in the semifinals, moving him to the final round. Melancon finished 10th while Lemao finished 11th overall.
Boya did not compete in the finals of the 60 meter run, giving him an 8th place overall finish in his first event as an Eagle.
Boya competed again in the men's 400 meter run later in the day, finishing second overall and in his heat with a time of 49.74 seconds. That mark is just 0.31 seconds behind the school record held by Caleb Agee that was set in 2018. KJ Laribo finished second in his heat and 18th overall in the event with a time of 52.72 seconds.
The Eagles wrapped up the day with Melancon competing in the 200 meter run. Melancon finished third in his heat and fifth overall with a time of 22.33 seconds.
To keep up with all of the Carson-Newman track and field action, stay locked in at cneagles.com or on twitter at @cn_eagles.