JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – In its second trip to East Tennessee State University in three weeks, Carson-Newman Track & Field has day one of the ETSU Invitational in the books from the David E. Walker Track at Gentry Field.
"I felt really good about today," Coach Tyler Stepp said. "We finished the day really strong and we've seen a lot of improvement body wise we just have to work on some consistency and sharpening up and I think the weather this week it hurt us in the runway in some of the jumping events and we're getting close but I think they will do much better once we are able to get back outside. Overall just a really good day."
The DMR foursome of Rafael Adame, Jeremiah McCarter, Brandon McKinley, and Cameron McKinley broke a school record in its fourth-place finish at 11:01.98. The time breaks a two year old record by over three seconds. McCarter was a member of the team that previously set the record at 11:05.48.
Devon Moore shredded the competition in his heat in the 200-meter dash after being clocked at 21.53 seconds in the preliminary race win. The time is currently 10th in all of Division II. The next closest guy in Moore's heat came in at 24.08 seconds.
The sophomore posted the second-best time in the 60-meter prelim race with a time of 6.88 seconds, behind PJ Lotharp of Lenoir-Rhyne who came in at 6.79. The Baxley, Ga. native improved on his time in the semifinal sprint at 6.85 but checked in at third behind Widchard Guervil of Tusculum at 6.79 seconds, and Lotharp who churned in a time of 6.73.
L-R's Lotharp was tied for sixth in the nation entering the day with the previous best time at 6.78 seconds. The semifinal run jumped the sprinter to second in the country behind Mobolade Ajomale at the Academy of Art who ran it in 6.67 seconds. Moore is tied for 16th in the nation in the event and will compete in the finals tomorrow slated for a 3:03 p.m. start.
Kristofer Potts-Howard grabbed second place in the long jump posting his first seven-meter plus jump this season at 7.09m runner-up to Western Carolina's Shon Pratcher who reached 7.17m. James Wilson was an eight-place finisher clearing 6.58m followed by Christian Stumpf in 13th at 6.23 meters.
Caleb Agee rounded out the top-10 in the 400-meter run with a time of 50.64 seconds which is a new personal-best time for the junior mid-distance runner.
"Devon and Caleb ran the best technical races I have ever seen today," Stepp said. "I was super happy for both of them and what they were able to do. Some of the times you might want to be faster but in terms of technical running, everything was sound."
The Eagles had begun the day with the men's weight throw as Austin Gramann turned in a personal-best at 12.71m, followed by Logan Pender at 12.60.
Other notable finishes for C-N included Samantha Gudger turning in a third-place finish in the long jump with a 5.48-meter mark. Freshman Tiffany Noe tied for sixth in the high jump clearing 1.55 meters on her second attempt before bowing out at 1.60m. The mark is a new personal-best breaking last week's height of 1.54m at the Finn Pincus Invitational.
Tia Davis and Amanda Lowe both qualified for the 60-meter dash semifinal after they finished 7.92 and 7.99 seconds respectively but failed to qualify for the finals in the event despite similar times.
The final day of the Buccaneer Invite will pick up Saturday morning starting with the women's 3000-meter race at 9:00 a.m.
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