David Needs Interview

ROCK HILL, S.C. – The South Atlantic Conference announced the 2015 SAC Preseason Outdoor Track and Field poll and watch list Tuesday morning for both the men's and women's championships. The Carson-Newman men's team was predicted to finish fifth by the league's coaches, while the women's side was slated for a sixth-place finish.

At the 2014 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Championships, the men's team finished fifth and the women were sixth in the standings.

"We certainly want to do well in our conference and want to be number one, but that is where we finished last year so that kind of fits where we are," coach David Needs said. "We think we have added some good pieces to that, but you kind measure in track by three ways: in conference, in region and nationally. And honestly, if I was fifth in the conference, but first nationally at the end of the year, I would take all day long. We certainly want to do well in our region, but more importantly, we want to do well nationally at the end of the year."

Six Eagles were named to the preseason watch list. For the men's team, sprinter TJ Davis (Ooltewah, Tenn.), distance runner Lachlan Dickie (Knoxville, Tenn.) and field athlete Tanner Stepp (Jefferson City, Tenn.) were on the list. On the women's side, the Eagles were represented by sprinter Shauntae Miller (Bahamas), distance runner Sara Honaker (Mason, Ohio) and field athlete Tianna Mills (Chattanooga, Tenn.).

Last season, Davis won two SAC events as a freshman in the long and triple jump, but this season, the sophomore will be a force in the sprint events. During the spring, Davis finished in the top-five in multiple 55-meter dashes and he recently posted one of the quickest times on the team during practice. Dickie enters his first season of outdoor competition after a successful cross country season. Dickie was the leading runner the Carson-Newman cross country team in every event except one. Dickie is a former high school All-American. Stepp enters the outdoor season after receiving All-American honors in the high jump during the indoor season. Stepp finished tied for fifth in the nation with a jump clearing six-feet, nine-inches. During the indoor season, Stepp won three events and finished second in two others.

"We hope that they do well. Tanner, even in our first meet, is ranked first in the nation in the high jump in Division II, so he is currently moving in the right direction. TJ is a great jumper and sprinting is something that he did in high school and is something we are really pushing now because he is a sophomore, so he has a little bit more experience and we think he can help us in the 100, 200 and 4x100. Lachlan, this past weekend, won the 5k at Lenior-Rhyne, which is the first time in years we have had a distance runner really step up and has won an individual event for us," Needs said of his male athletes.  

Miller returns for her senior year on Mossy Creek. Last year, Miller finished second in the 400m Dash and sixth in the 200m Dash. She holds the C-N school records in the 200m, 400m, 4x100m Relay and the 4x400m Relay. The sophomore Honaker was one of the Carson-Newman's top cross country performers in the fall. She was the top-finisher during the SAC Cross Country Championships in November. Mills, just a sophomore, is the reigning SAC Champion in the triple jump and the long jump. Last season, Tianna Mills was named the SAC's first-ever Female Field Athlete of the Week and she is also a two-time Southeast All-Region athlete.

"We added from last year's strong runners and jumpers and it is our hope that they will be able to contribute in a bigger way this year," Needs said.

The Wingate Bulldogs were selected to win the women's SAC title tallying 66 points. The 2014 champions, the Queens Royals, were selected to finish after finishing with 65 points. Anderson, Mars Hill and Lenior-Rhyne are third, fourth and fifth respectively. After Carson-Newman in sixth, Lincoln Memorial and Coker are tied for seventh. The Brevard Tornados were selected to finish ninth. 

In the men's competition, Wingate was picked to repeat as SAC Champions in 2015. Mars Hill, Queens and Lenior-Rhyne were picked second, third and fourth. After Carson-Newman's fifth-place selection, Anderson and Coker are in sixth and seventh. Lincoln Memorial was slated eighth and Brevard rounded out the league's preseason poll in ninth.

Men's:

Anderson

Sprints - Christopher Burton

Distance - Mason Hazel

Field - Anthony Aleruchi

Brevard

Sprints – N/A

Distance – Hassan Kiprono

Field – N/A

Carson-Newman

Sprints – TJ Davis

Distance – Lachlan Dickie

Field - Tanner Stepp

Coker

First Year Program

Lenoir-Rhyne

Sprints - Jarrod Spears

Distance – N/A

Field –N/A

Lincoln Memorial

Sprints – Oluwatosin Balogun

Distance – Ryan Mecca

Field – N/A

Mars Hill

Sprints – Tre'von Gee

Distance – Alex Griggs

Field - Dwayne Boone

Queens

Sprints – N/A

Distance – Jimmy Hollingsworth

Field - Florian Bergs

Wingate

Sprints – Cole Henderson

Distance – Nepolian Patel

Field - George Williams

Preseason Poll (First-Place Votes) - Points

Women's

Anderson

Sprints - Sherin Malone

Distance - Sydney Hazel

Field - Dyandra Morris

Brevard

Sprints – N/A

Distance – Heidi Kaartinen

Field – N/A

Carson-Newman

Sprints – Shauntae Miller

Distance – Sara Honaker

Field - Tianna Mills

Coker

First Year Program

Lenoir-Rhyne

Sprints - Brooke Robinson

Distance – Paige Smith

Field – Vertrice Wilson

Lincoln Memorial

Sprints – N/A

Distance – Whitney Elliott

Field – N/A

Mars Hill

Sprints – Alexis Montgomery

Distance – Jessica Viscusi

Field - Savannah Hulbert

Queens

Sprints – Nikia Squire

Distance – N/A

Field - Ella Fox

Wingate

Sprints – Keyua McElveen

Distance – Alyssa Johnson

Field - Christina Matheny

Preseason Poll (First-Place Votes) - Points