VIDEO: Christian Shouse Interview
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Fresh off of a first-place finish in the men's heptathlon at the Bast-Cregger Invitational, freshman multi athlete Christian Shouse has earned the AstroTurf South Atlantic Conference Men's Track Athlete of the Week.
Shouse (Jacksboro, Tenn.) placed first in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.07 seconds, the long jump with a distance of 6.94m, the high jump with a facility record of 2.09m and the pole vault with a mark of 3.84m. In the three remaining heptathlon events, the freshman placed second (shot put), third (60-meter hurdles) and fourth (1000-meters).
His 5007 points is a new school record for points scored in a heptathlon and slots him into the field at the 2020 NCAA Indoor Track and Field National Championship as a provisional qualifier. It is the 12th-most points accumulated in a heptathlon among all Division II athletes.
"Throughout the entire semester we've had practice six to even seven days a week, so there's been a lot of work put into it," Shouse said. "Leading up to it we just had to know that we're going out to give it our best and have fun while we're doing it."
His mark in the 60-meter dash was a personal record and started off the seven-leg event on a high note. Taking each event with a one-at-a-time mentality, the gold effort in the high jump of 2.09m dominated the competition and was seven inches higher than second place's mark of 1.91m. It is the fourth-best leap in all of Division II.
Coach David Needs called Shouse a "worker" with determination to continue getting better as the season progresses.
"Christian showed that he can be relevant on the national stage," Needs said. It's always great to get a confirmation when you recruit somebody that they are what you expected them to be, and he was."
In his first collegiate meet, Shouse has already earned SAC honors and provisional national championship qualification. His plans don't stop there, however, as he knows that he continue to perfect his craft in the coming months of the indoor track and field season. Still, the Bast-Cregger Invitational was everything that could have gone right for the developing Shouse.
"It definitely exceeded all expectations that I had for it, and it only showed that I can do great things and that I have a lot of work to still put in," he said. "There's a lot of room for improvement, but we can definitely make it (improvement)."
C-N will be back in action Jan. 10-11 at the ETSU Invitational in Johnson City, Tenn.
