Nine Eagles land USTFCCCA All-Region recognition
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) has announced the All-Region honorees for the 2018 NCAA Division II indoor track & field season.
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association has announced the All-Region honorees for the 2018 NCAA Division II indoor track & field season.
Carson-Newman held nine athletes on the All-Region list across 12 events which is one of the best in program history, topping last year's number of eight athletes following the indoor campaign. The 2014-15 season the team also placed nine athletes in the USTFCCAA All-Region awards.
The top-5 individuals in each event from each region earned All-Region distinction, in addition to each of the members of the regions' top-3 relay teams. The regions used for this award – Atlantic, Central, East, Midwest, South, South Central, Southeast and West – match those used during the cross country season.
On the men's side, a total of 559 earned All-Region honors from 124 different institutions.
A total of 521 women from 120 different institutions picked up All-Region honors.
The trio of Samantha Gudger, Jahvad McDermott, and Devon Moore all collected All-Region honors in multiple events during the 2017-18 campaign.
Gudger grabbed Southeast All-Region in both the high jump and the long jump. The Bristol, Tenn. native earned a new career-best over the weekend in the long jump with a distance of 5.72 meters and a first-place finish in the Last Chance Invitational. She sits at 29th in the nation in the event.
Her career-high in the high jump came in early January clearing a height of 1.65 meters at the ETSU Invitational.
McDermott collected a Field Athlete of the Week by the South Atlantic Conference earlier this year after a successful season in both the high jump and triple jump, which collected All-Region for the junior.
A native of Brooklyn, New York, McDermott posted his top mark in the high jump at the Buccaneer Invitational clearing 2.06 meters. He also posted a mark of 14.69 in the triple jump, which sits at No. 28 in the nation.
Moore posted national qualifying times in the SAC Indoor Championships for the 200 meter and 60 meter dashes. Moore posted a time of 6.78 seconds in the 60 meter finals narrowly being edged by Tusculum's freshman sprinter Widchard Guervil at 6.77 seconds. He is tied 12th-overall in D2 with the mark.
In the 200 meter, the freshman missed a first-place finish by fractions of a second. His second-place time of 21.81 came next to Lenoir-Rhyne's P.J. Lotharp's 21.80 seconds. Moore's time was a new career-low to his previous best of 22.05 seconds.
With the time, which is converted to 21.43 seconds because JDL is a flat track, Moore has the best time in the nation among freshman sprinters in the 200, ranked 12th overall.
Moore was named Freshman Athlete of the Year by the conference for his performance.
Another award winner for C-N in Kristofer Potts-Howard, who collected Field Athlete of the Year, earned All-Region honors in the long jump.
The junior jumper's top mark came in the first indoor event of the season on Dec. 1-2 at the Bast-Cregger Invitational in which he cleared 7.26 meters, runner-up to his career-high mark of 7.44 meters set last year. The distance puts the Tullahoma, Tenn. product at 23rd in the nation.
Noah Robertson earned All-Region honors as a freshman in the pole vault with a season-high mark of 4.45 meters in the event at the Buccaneer Invitational on Feb. 2. Robertson posted a second-place finish at the conference championships clearing a height of 4.25 meters.
Kieran Showler-Davis joins Moore as an All-Southeast Region honoree in the 60 meter dash with a season-high time in the event at 6.79 seconds sits at No. 15 in the nation. The senior sprinter has earned an automatic qualifier to indoor nationals next month.
Tanner Stepp marks the final male athlete to earn All-Region honors, joining Gudger as the only other C-N athlete to crack the high jump. The senior out of Jefferson City, Tenn. collected the top-spot in the conference championships eventually clearing a height of 2.10 meters.
His season high came at the Buccaneer Invitational clearing 2.12 meters, which sits him tied for sixth in the nation. Stepp has collected first-place finishes in all four meets in which he has competed in this indoor season.
Tori Gaul joins Robertson on the All-Region team for pole vaulters after turning in a career-best and first-place mark at the SAC Championship at 3.72 meters.
Her height sits the senior tied for 23rd in the nation.
Amy Zadroga also joins Gaul as an All-Region honoree in the pole vault after a new best came in the league championships clearing the bar at 3.42 meters. Zadroga joined Robertson and Moore as the third Eagle freshman to be named to USTFCCCA All-Region.
You can view the full list of athletes named to All-Region here
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