Stansberry, Gaul and England highlight All-Decade At-Large squad

Posted: Dec 07, 2020

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. -- Captain and seven-time All-American swimmer Margaret Stansberry joins track and field All-American Tori Gaul and four-time All-South Atlantic Conference golfer Elizabeth England in leading the highly touted Carson-Newman women's at-large all-decade Women's At-Large team, unveiled Monday morning by the Carson-Newman's Athletic Communications Office.

All-told, the list includes over 30 All-Americans, 60 All-Region selections and 110 All-Conference accolades from track and field, cross country, swimming, tennis and golf.

Swimming leads the roster with eight Eagles after making a splash in the Athletic Department since its inception in 2013. In that time, the program has brought in a plethora of All-American and All-Bluegrass Mountain Conference laurels. Nearly 30 of those All-American honors are included in the All-Decade team with roughly 75 All-BMC accolades accounted for, as well. The Eagles held a strong 13-2 record in home meets through the decade and were ranked as high as seventh in the Division II rankings.

Stansberry, the captain of the All-Decade team, wrapped up her career in 2018 with seven All-America honors to her name. She holds the program record in two individual events with a 49.92 in the 100 Free and a 1:47.10 in the 200 Free. She collected over 38 wins in her career with well-over a dozen All-BMC plaudits.

Stansberry was a part of a few top-tier relay teams that hold program record times, most of those teammates landing on the list with her. In 2016, she teamed up with Nancy Claire Smith, Maggie Melhorn and Lexy Raybon for a 7:25.29 time in the 800 Free Relay. A year later, she set the 400 Free Relay record time for C-N at 3:24.32 alongside Lisa Postma, Elly Culp and Maggie Melhorn. She closed out her career setting the program's best 200 Medley Relay at 1:41.62 with Maggie Melhorn, Elly Culp and Postma at the 2018 NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships. Their fourth-place finish marked the best finish for any relay team in C-N history.

One of the first multi-event Individual All-Americans in program history, Natalie Burnett set the standard for C-N in her freshman and sophomore campaigns with record times in the 50 back with a 25.23 in 2014 and the 50 free and 100 back in 2015 with times of 22.95 and 54.27, respectively. At the conference level, she was a three-time winner at the championships two-time record holder at the event.

Much like Burnett, Nancy Claire Smith was also one of the first All-Americans for the program but she was one of six C-N swimmers to be the first four-year members of the team. She won All-American status in 2016 with the 800 free relay unit and picked up a pair of honorable mention laurels in 2016 and 2017. She was a nominee for the NCAA's Woman of the Year in 2017, as well.

Maggie Melhorn graduated in 2018 as one of the most decorated swimmers in program history. Aside from her relay record times, the four-time All-American set a pair of program records in her senior campaign with a 1:01.15 in the 100 Breaststroke and 2:13.09 in the 200 Breaststroke. She grabbed nearly 30 event wins throughout her career, 12 of those coming in her sophomore year alone. Melhorn tacked on 10 Honorable Mention All-American plaudits with 17 All-BMC awards. She became the program's first two-time NCAA Bronze Medalist for either the men's and women's squads in 2018.

Lexy Raybon was tabbed an All-American twice with a trio of Honorable Mention performances and eight All-BMC swims. She won over 20 individual and relay events throughout her career. Aside from the 800 Free Relay that set a program record in 2016, she notched the program record in four different events in her first three seasons, including the 500, 1000 and 1650 Freestyle and the 200 Fly. Her 17:12.36 time in the 1650 Free came during her freshman year.

A 14-time All-BMC swimmer, Lisa Postma procured over two dozen wins in her career with the Orange and Blue. She was tabbed an All-American five times with seven Honorable Mention laurels. Her 23.07 time in the 50 Freestyle at the 2018 DII Championships was good enough for a fifth-place finish and her first individual All-American laurel, marking a lifetime-best time and second-lowest in program history.

In her final NCAA Finals appearance, Postma teamed up with Elly Culp, Laurel Sankowski and Mary Northcutt for a fifth-place finish, marking the third-straight year that a C-N team landed in the top five of the event. That unit snagged a program-record time of 1:32.46 for All-American status.

Culp, a member of three program-best relay swims, also closed out her career at the 2019 finals with Postma. For Culp, she was a four-time All-American, all coming in relay performances. She added on seven Honorable Mentions with 13 All-Conference awards.

Northcutt won four-straight years of All-America honors in her career via the 200 free relay. All-told, she was a six-time All-American and three-time Honorable Mention All-American. In the 2019-20 campaign, Northcutt appeared in her first individual event at the NCAAs, qualifying for the 50-yard freestyle.

The women's track and field and cross country programs had a big decade. Track and field set 37 new outdoor and indoor records since 2010 while cross country wrangled five top-five finishes in the SAC.

Tiana Mills racked up seven All-Conference honors during her career, three of those being first-team honors, along with four United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Southeast Region honors. She claimed SAC Outdoor Long Jump titles for 2014 and 2017 with Outdoor Triple Jump crowns in 2014 and 2015. Beyond that, she was the 2015 SAC Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year. Mills still holds the school record for the indoor long jump (5.75 meters), indoor triple jump (12.03 meters) and outdoor triple jump (12.13 meters)

Both Tori Gaul and Samantha Gudger holds school record hurdle performances as individuals. Gaul's 1.03.97 time sits as the best outdoor 400-meter hurdles for C-N while Gudger is at the top of the indoor 60-meter hurdles list with a 9.51-second outing and the outdoor 100-meter hurdles at 15.77 seconds. They were both a part of an Eagles' group that set the team record for the 4x400m relay with a 4:01:29. Combined, they account for seven All-SAC honors and 10 All-Region laurels.

Gaul was a two-time SAC Champion Outdoor Pole Vault champion in 2016 and 2018 and was the indoor champion in 2018. The 2017 NCAA Elite 20 selection holds the school's best outdoor pole vault performance at 3.81 meters and set the conference record at 3.90 meters for the indoor pole vault. She became the first female in the history of the program in the Division II era to earn All-America status after clearing 3.75 meter following day one of the 2018 NCAA Division II Championships.

As for Gudger, she was a part of C-N's 4x100m relay team that set a school record at 48.01 seconds and holds the team's best outdoor long jump at 5.87 meters. She was an All-Region selection in 2016 and won the SAC Outdoor Long Jump title in 2018.

Like Gaul, both Hannah Reese and Rachel Strayer sit as dual-sport athletes, all three also running cross country. While Gaul ran just one season with the team, Reese and Strayer both have two seasons with Cross Country represented on this list.

Reese was a first-team All-SAC pick in 2011 for Cross Country. She won the 2011 Maryville College Invite in 2011, leading the Eagles to a team victory, and won the Carson-Newman Invitational in 2012. She picked up an additional top-three finish at the Citadel Invitational in 2011. Reese collected a handful of top-five performances in her senior season, including three second-place showings in 1500-meter and 3000-meter runs and the one-mile run.

As for Strayer, she made an early splash at Mossy Creek for both teams, accounting for two USTFCCCA All-Region honors for indoor track, a pair of All-Region laurels and first-team All-SAC honors in cross country and was the conference Freshman of the Year in 2018. She became the first female cross country runner at C-N to compete at the NCAA Division II Championships since 2008, receiving an at-large bid in 2019 where she set a lifetime best time of 21:39.6. On the track side, she was a part of the school's record-setting indoor distance medley team with a time of 12:39.57 and set records with a 5:19.45 indoor 1600-meter run and a and 10:35.98 indoor 3K.

The women's golf team won the SAC Championship in 2011 and 2015 to bring the program to three titles since its inception in 2008. This past decade saw two Eagle teams and four individuals make it to the NCAA Regional with one individual appearing in the NCAA Final. The Eagles were ranked at No. 24 in the country during that time and collected eights tournament victories.

Also a two-time All-SAC golfer, Jessica Tarbet was a monumental piece in the early parts of the decade for C-N, playing a large part in the team's 2011 SAC Championship win after being named the league's Player of the Year that same season. She holds the fourth-best career scoring average at 77.95 through 59 rounds. She won two of the 27 events she played in after transferring from Kennesaw State, both wins coming in her senior campaign, and carded the second-lowest single round score with a 4-under 68 in the second round of the Montreat College Fall Invite in 2010.

Meridith Hawkins landed All-SAC honors three times during her career, along with being the 2014 SAC Co-Player of the Year. Through 83 rounds of play, the third-most in program history, she averaged a 79.86 clip with 12 top-10 finishes. She was a part of C-N's 2015 SAC Championship squad.

Elizabeth England stands as the only Eagle in program history to be named a four-time All-SAC first team selection. She tallied 17 top-10 finishes throughout her career with seven victories, winning at least one in each season. She holds the program-record for wins in a season with three in her junior season. England was the SAC Tournament MVP in 2017, setting a tournament record with a 214. Her 6-under 66 in the second round of the tournament was also a record-low for the event. She holds the top two spots on the SAC's low 54-hole score list with that 2017 SAC Tournament performance and a 219 at the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate from that same season.

Tied with England for the second-lowest 54 hole score in SAC history is Maeve Cummins. Through her first two seasons at Carson-Newman, she has received back-to-back All-SAC laurels. Her 2018-19 debut brought SAC Freshman of the Year honors along with becoming the SAC Tournament champion, just the third women's golfer in SAC history to achieve such a feat. She has garnered eight top 10 finishes throughout her career, thus far. Her 75.62 career scoring average through the end of the 2019-20 season currently stands as the best in program history.

Women's tennis landed in the top half of the conference standings twice in the past decade, the highest finish being a tie for fourth in 2010. C-N has had 12 All-SAC selections in that time, four earning first-team status.

Amanda Bartlett was a four-time All-SAC pick, her final one coming at the turn of the decade after being tabbed the league's Player of the Year the two previous years. The first-teamer was 12-2 in doubles and 10-4 in singles during the 2010 season, helping C-N to an 11-4 record that year. She played at the No. 1 spot in both.

Jill Corsato-Owsianka was a three-time All-SAC selection and the winningest Eagle this decade in singles action with a 42-27 career record. She became the first player in team history to land on both the of the league's singles and doubles list in the same season, being an Honorable Mention in 2018.

Ana Carla Resende closed the decade as an All-SAC first-team singles selection and was the 2019 SAC Freshman of the year. Through her first two seasons at Mossy Creek, she picked up a 20-6 record in singles and a 13-11 showing in doubles, all at the No. 1 position. Her 13 wins at singles in her debut season are the second-most in a single season in the program's most recent history.