ASHEVILLE, N.C.- Carson-Newman track and field flooded the podium at the Asheville Bulldog Invitational this afternoon, April 13.
"It was a really great day," head track and field coach David Needs said. "We did well in distance, sprints, jumps, and throws. Those are really the four disciplines within track, so it is incredibly pleasing to see. It was a great meet to piece all of that together on a new track".
The Eagles swept the 400 dash at the Asheville Bulldog Invitational this afternoon, April 13. Tytiana Wilson won the women's 400-meter dash in 57.28. Myke'Lah McMiller finished fourth in the event in 59.07. Lucas Besong grabbed gold in the men's 400 dash in 49.29. Teammate Taylor Dupler finished fourth in 50.10. Ethan Blaylock finished 11th in 52.43.
Sade De Sousa placed first in the women's 100-meter dash in 11.76. Teammate Janaya Davis-Gainer placed second in 12.25. Dawson Jones competed in the men's 100 dash and finished second in 10.44.
In the men's 200-meter dash, Amine Kasmi won gold in 21.11. Davis-Gainer competed in the women's 200-meter dash and finished 12th in 26.10.
"Amine had a great day today. He obviously won the 200, but he was also instrumental in the relay this afternoon," Needs said. "Verrol competed so well in the high jump. We had so many athletes do well. Really, the entire team did well, and that is awesome to see as a head coach".
In the men's high jump, freshman Verrol Sam won gold with a 2.05-meter mark. Oluwafemi Richards placed second with a 2.00-meter performance. Kendall Whitehead finished sixth in the women's high jump with a 1.50-meter mark.
Kadidja Sangare won gold in the women's 100-meter hurdles. Sangare finished the race in 14.19. Jeremiah Carroll grabbed fourth in the men's 110-meter hurdles in 15.39.
"Kadidja never seems to have a bad meet, but today, she certainly didn't," Needs said. "She was able to win the 100 hurdles event and then go place third in the women's long jump. She is a special athlete".
In the women's long jump, Sangare placed third with a 5.90-meter performance. Teammates Sydney McCarty (5.78 m) and Brooke Taylor (5.73 m) finished fifth and sixth in the event. Savannah Goodwin rounded out the top-10 with a 5.26-meter leap. Camden Fritz placed eighth in the men's long jump with a 6.13-meter mark. During the women's triple jump, Taylor grabbed third with a 11.22-meter mark. Whitehead finished fifth with an 11.07-meter performance, and Brooke Visser grabbed 10th with a 9.90-meter mark.
"It's always encouraging to have a relay team do well," Needs said. "There were windy conditions today, which makes it tough, but for so many of our athletes to win and compete at such a high level against a largely Division I group was really special".
The women's 4x100-meter relay team finished second in 47.51. Sangare competed with teammates Wilson, Davis-Gainer and De Sousa. Besong, Quacy Virgo, Kasmi, and Jones grabbed silver for the men in 41.09.
"There were a lot of people who won today, but even the ones who didn't, did extremely well throughout the meet," Needs said. "Aside from just winning, you have to look at who got better. We had a ton of athletes excel and get personal bests. So many people on the team showed progression this weekend, and that is exactly what we were looking for".
Brent Borden grabbed silver in the men's 5,000-meter run in 15:33.57. Teammate Will Kolb grabbed 12th in 17:03.27. Katie Smock finished the women's 5,000-meter run in third place with a time of 18:24.72. Imke Van Gog followed closely behind to finish fourth in 18:56.58.
Jenna Pittman finished third in the women's 1,500-meter run in 4:55.75. Smock finished 17th in 5:12.25, and Maggie Hope grabbed 19th in 5:16.63. Colton Lee finished seventh for the men in 4:03.16.
Ian Salyer placed fifth in the men's hammer throw with a 40.83-meter performance. Teammate Matthew Campbell finished 10th with a 33.50-meter mark. In the men's discus throw, Saylyer finished ninth with a 40.44-meter mark. Campbell finished 17th with 29.89 meters. Taylor Steele placed 21st with a 23.43-meter mark.
In the women's javelin throw, Kellie Ivens finished 11th with a 25.50-meter mark. Itzel Ayala-Renteria finished 14th with a 24.67-meter mark, and Hope grabbed the 18th spot with a 22.81-meter performance. James Duncan grabbed fifth in the men's javelin throw with a 40.29-meter mark.
"Our throwers had a great day," Needs said. "I was happy with the javelin throwers. They did really well for the team today".
In the men's shot put, Luke Smith placed fourth with a 14.28-meter mark. Zayne Sharpe finished 14th with a 9.49-meter performance. Steele competed in the women's shot put. Steele finished 17th in the event with a 9.68-meter mark.
"We had four guys run the 800 in under two minutes," Needs said. "That is really incredible, and it's certainly a testament to the hard work they put in".
Garrett Wilson grabbed fourth place in the men's 800 in 1:57.41. Teammate Raymond Brugmans grabbed eighth in 1:58.50. Bryson Burkett finished 12th in 1:59.15, and Borden landed in 13th in 1:59.16. McKenna Spaulding finished 17th in the women's 800-meter race in 2:30.62.
Lauren Tabor placed third in the women's 400-meter hurdles with a final time of 1:08.31. In the men's pole vault, Matthew Bretscher finished sixth with a 3.40-meter performance.
"As a head coach, I can't explain how much I value my assistant coaches, graduate assistants, and of course, the athletic training staff who traveled and were fully invested in our success today," Needs said. "To have a full group effort is so nice, and it pays off for our athletes. Today was great, and we were excited to see where we are as a team".
Results from the Asheville Bulldog Invitational can be found HERE. Carson-Newman track and field will be back in action next Friday, April 19 at the Catamount Classic in Cullowhee, N.C. Stay up to date on cneagles.com.
