Video: Jahvad McDermott Interview
WINSTON SALEM, N.C. - With the second South Atlantic Conference Indoor Championships in the books, Carson-Newman Track & Field came away with one of its best league finishes as a collective following Sunday, Feb. 24's finale from the JDL Fast Track.
The C-N men grabbed a third-place finish with 112 points topping Wingate (81) who were a team that beat the Eagles by over 50 points last season. On the women's side, C-N was just edged by 1.5 points to Catawba as they finished in sixth with 43 total.
"Extremely pleased with the effort," Coach David Needs said. "We had some people come up big, they stood up and got us some points. To be third on the men's side when we were preseason number four is awesome and it proved a lot of people wrong. We look forward to making that next step."
For the second year in a row, Needs' program came away with an athlete of the year award winner as Jahvad McDermott earned the 2019 SAC Indoor Most Outstanding Field Athlete following the weekend's events. Kristofer Potts-Howard won the accolade last year in the SAC's inaugural indoor season.
McDermott hauls in the 2019 SAC Indoor Outstanding Field Athlete of the Year award after finishing inside the top-four in three different events, including conference championship in the triple jump @CN_Track pic.twitter.com/kLhZm6DMVD
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) February 24, 2019
McDermott competed in three total events during the weekend with Sunday's being the high jump and triple jump. The native of Brooklyn, N.Y. took home the No. 1 spot in the triple jump becoming a conference champion after breaking a school record clearing 14.88-meters. The previous mark was held by teammate James Wilson who held it at 14.73-meters. Wilson finished second in the event for the Eagles grabbing an additional eight points with a jump of 14.57m. Potts-Howard became the third athlete to grab points in the event with a fifth-place finish at 13.91 meters.
The senior cleared 2.05 meters in the high jump which netted him third place. Christian Stumpf followed right behind McDermott in fourth after clearing 1.95 meters on his first attempt.
"Everything from this weekend feels good and it feels earned," McDermott said. "I was really determined to try to make it to nationals that really was my goal. I wanted to win of course but putting in all the hard work this was my chance to show it and I believe I did show it pretty well. For me staying healthy was key in comparison to last year. Can't wait to compete against some of these teams in outdoor again and I believe we can remain in that top-three."
Luke Greer won his second conference championship over the weekend after an 8:35.76 run in the 3000-meter run. The Northhampton, England native earned the 5000 version on day one of the league championships.
�� It takes ✌️ to make a thing go right �� @LukeGreer_ earns his second conference championship on the weekend for @CN_Track! pic.twitter.com/nZK0HGy2c0
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) February 24, 2019
"There was a lot of races I had to run this weekend so I didn't try putting too much pressure on myself it was just going in and seeing how well I could do," Greer said. "It's been a good couple of weeks and good training so I can't really complain about the result. I think our whole team can be proud of themselves and we worked really hard. I think our team still has a lot of potential to keep pushing."
Caleb Agee turned in a time of 50.21 in the 400-meter making the podium with a third-place finish after topping Lenoir-Rhyne's Lucas Besong (50.23) by fractions of a second to earn an all-conference honor.
In his first SAC Championships, freshman Toot Johnson posted an all-conference run with a top-three finish in the 60-meter dash final with a time of 6.88 seconds. The mark improved on a career-best time set yesterday at 6.91 which also broke a previous low of 7.03 seconds.
Devon Moore claimed his second-consecutive all-conference honor in the 60-meter dash coming in at fifth with a time of 6.90.
Moore and Johnson each reached the podium with second and third-place finishes later in the day in the 200-meter dash. Moore earned a new lifetime best time with a time of 21.88 seconds converted to 21.41 seconds. Johnson followed suit with a time of 22.10 for six points.
Sophomore Tia Davis stood on the podium in the same event for the women's after completing the race in 25.79 seconds which was good for second overall and a new program record. Davis earned two all-conference runs during the day with the second coming in the 60m dash when she finished sixth at 7.88 seconds.
"As far as this weekend goes I'm proud of what we did as a collective," Coach Eric Phillips said. "We came into the weekend with the attitude and wanting to compete and we did just that. We put our best foot forward and added some new records as well. The dedication and resilience we showed this weekend throughout was awesome. Everyone came in and was ready to go and I'm happy to be a part of it. Moving into outdoor season I think it plays to our favor. We pick up a couple of events there and it helps us fine-tune some things. The fact we have started to see things come together at the end of the season makes it promising as we continue forward."
Bekah White set a new school record for C-N in the 3000-meter run with a time of 10:48.08 which earned her first-place honors in the heat and sixth overall. The Knoxville, Tenn. native earned the Elite 20 award which is given to the student-athlete that exhibits outstanding work in the classroom and the highest GPA. White earned the outdoor Elite 90 award last year.
✅ Outdoor Academic Award
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) February 24, 2019
✅ Indoor Academic Award
Bekah White earns the @SAC_Athletics Elite 20 award given to the athlete with the highest GPA. pic.twitter.com/Mr0uTFP3ZS
Tiffany Noe and Samantha Gudger each grabbed points for the women's unit in the high jump as the freshman Noe grabbed fourth-overall after clearing a height of 1.57 meters. Gudger checked in at No. 7 after clearing the same height on her third attempt.
Rachel Strayer had an identical finish in placement in the one-mile run final checking in at seventh with a time of 5:22.61 to grab two points for the team and an all-conference finish as a freshman. The mark was better than her prelim run yesterday at 5:23.18.
"I thought as a team we bought in and took pride in how we finished as a team took sacrifices. Track isn't always a team sport but there were a lot of individuals who stuck their necks out and put a lot of effort in."
The NCAA Indoor Championship field will be announced later this week. Stay up to date with all things C-N Track & Field at cneagles.com.
-CN-
