SALEM, Va. – The Carson-Newman men's and women's track team had a record day in day two of the Bast-Cregger Invitational on Saturday inside the Kerr-Cregger Field House.
"It's great to see the hard work in our fall training pay off." Assistant track and field coach Tyler Stepp said, "Our distance men and women ran phenomenal, while our jumpers and throwers competed at a high level of competition."
Tanner Stepp (Jefferson City, Tenn.) got off to a great start to the indoor season on Saturday afternoon. The outdoor national runner-up in the high jump competition, Stepp set a new facility record with a jump of 2.08 meters. The Volunteer state native was the only men's high jumper to clear the mark of 2 meters in the competition. Stepp, provisionally qualified for the high jump competition at the indoor national championships this season.
Kristofer Potts-Howard (Tullahoma, Tenn.) set a new school record in the men's long jump. The junior jumper landed a jump of 7.26 meters on his first attempt on the afternoon. The attempt not only has Potts-Howard sitting in the top-position going into the final round of competition, but it also provisionally qualified him for the indoor nationals this season.
Kieran Showler-Davis (Winchester, England) was two one-hundredths of a second off of breaking former Carson-Newman sprinter Kevin Snead's facility record in the 60-meter dash. The native of England was the top qualifier in the meet with a time of 6.88 seconds. The time was good enough to earn Showler-Davis a provisional qualifying mark for the indoor national championships.
Samantha Gudger (Bristol, Tenn.) finished in third place in the women's high jump with a leap of 1.63 meters. Shelby Reynolds finished in a tie for 13th place with a jump of 1.43 meters. The duo also finished in third and fourth place in the women's long jump. Gudger had a leap of 5.39 meters and Reynolds had a jump of 5.38 meters.
Abby Tomkoski qualified for the women's triple-jump final with a sixth place finish. Tomkoski landed the 10.49 meter jump in the third round of competition.
Logan Pender was the only thrower to advance to the finals of a competition. Pender finished in 6th place in the shot put competition with a throw of 13.06 meter. Pender achieved the distance in the opening round.
Savion Smith finished in sixth place in the 60-meter dash and will advance to the finals tomorrow. Smith ran a 60-meter dash time of 7.19 seconds.
Tia Davis, Cierra Henderson and Amanda Lowe all advance to the meet finals. Davis set a new school record in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.98 seconds. Henderson ran a time of 8.11 seconds, while Lowe ran a time of 8.18 seconds.
Anthony Jackson (Manchester, Tenn.) finished in third in the 800-meter race. The junior ran a time of 2:03.50. Fellow distance runner Skye McCarter (Sevierville, Tenn.) came in fourth place during the women's one mile run with a time of 5:50.93.
Davis set her second school record of the afternoon in the 200-meter dash. Davis came in second in the meet with a time of 26.53 seconds.
Luke Greer (Abington, United Kingdom) and Kelvin Ronoh (Eldoret, Kenya) continued their impressive years from the cross country season into the indoor track season. Greer set a new school record in the 3000-meter race with a time of 8:35.44. The senior finished the meet in second place. Ronoh came in fifth place with a time of 9:27.88 seconds.
Bekah White (Rockford, Tenn.) set a new personal record in the women's 3000-meters. The Tennessee native came in 18th place with a time of 11:47.01
The men's 4 by 400m relay set a new school record of 3:28.55. The team of Showler-Davis, Caleb Agee, Jeremiah McCarter and Adan Vazquez came in second place to Methodist.
Stay tuned to cneagles.com for all the latest news and updates on the Carson-Newman track & field team.
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