2019 South Atlantic Conference Men's Indoor Track & Field Championship Preview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - With the arrival of the second South Atlantic Conference Indoor Championships in the league's history, Carson-Newman Track & Field heads to Winston Salem, N.C. for the meet on Feb. 23-24 from the JDL Fast Track.
In last year's inaugural indoor season, the conference championships took place on just one day instead of the scheduled two-days this weekend.
"With the two-day event, it does add some additional prelims so it does put a premium on those athletes being able to go," Coach David Needs said. "I've got to praise the coaches in our conference and our conference for having the vision to mirror a meet like the NCAA Championships as late in the year so you can peak athletes as close as you can towards nationals. I think the two days will be something that's critical in our strength and success for the meet."
C-N came away with the Athlete of the Year in Kristofer Potts-Howard and Freshman Athlete of the Year in Devon Moore. The Eagles men's team came away with a fourth-place finish overall collecting 77 points as the women checked in at No. 6 with 40 points.
Potts-Howard, a native of Tullahoma, Tenn., notched top-four placements in three different events throughout the single day in 2018 starting the day with a third-place finish in the long jump clearing a distance of 6.94 meters.
The then-junior jumper also competed in the triple jump for C-N turning in a second-place spot with a jump of 13.92 meters.
The versatile jumper never competed in the high jump in his collegiate career before Monday's meet but lived up to the challenge when he was called upon. Potts-Howard cleared 1.80 meters on his first attempt, which garnered a fourth-place finish.
Moore, a native of Baxley, Ga., 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. Moore shattered his previous best in the event at 6.88 seconds which sat him tied for 12th in the nation and eventually earned him a trip to the Division II Indoor National Championships earning second-team All-America plaudits.
In the 200-meter sprint, the C-N wide receiver for the football team 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 was converted to 21.43 seconds because JDL is a flat track, Moore had the best time in the nation among freshman sprinters in the 200 which also earned a spot at nationals in the event.
"We certainly hope that those guys can repeat with those awards," Needs said. "You hope there are a couple of additional guys who can be up for Field Athlete of the Year as well and even Samantha Gudger on the women's side. Luke Greer is a candidate as well so we have a very balanced team and some good individuals. We think we can certainly do some good things."
Stay tuned in to cneagles.com and our social media pages @CNAthletics for all news regarding the SAC Championships this weekend. You can view the schedule for the weekend here.
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