Full Results
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Junior sprinter Devon Moore set a new school record in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.71 seconds to secure first place during the second and final day of the ETSU Invitational.
With the blazing speed, Moore (Baxley, Ga.) is granted an automatic berth in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships later this year. It is the second-fastest time in the sprint among all Division II athletes this season and comes during Moore's first event since rejoining the team after football season.
Head coach David Needs mentioned that Moore's progression is right where he needs to be for the upcoming slate of events with the impressive speed displayed in Saturday's finals.
"He looks like he's really got it where he wants it," Needs said. "His start looked so good today and yesterday and that's something he's been working on to improve.
Teammate Toot Johnson (Rincon, Ga.) finished in fifth in the event with a time of 6.92. Not to be overshadowed by his teammate in Moore, Johnson's mark in the finals was less than a tenth off of provisional qualifying speed for the national championship.
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— Carson-Newman Track / XC (@CN_Track) January 11, 2020
��School Record Alert��@ReallVon breaks the school record in the 60m dash and wins the ETSU Track & Field Invitational with a #2 time in the nation of 6.71s #TalonsUp pic.twitter.com/ibIDfGIIWW
"Toot is running faster this year than last year at this time, we're really excited about what Toot has done," Needs said. "To have two guys in the finals and have two guys finish in the top-5 with a heavy Division I field is good news."
Another school record came in the men's 4x400 meter relay with the team of Caleb Agee (Floyd, Va.), Trevor Elliott (Cumming, Ga.), Christian Stumpf (Johnson City, Tenn.) and Christian Shouse (Jacksboro, Tenn.), posting a time of 3:21.69.
Heading into this weekend's event, the coaching staff felt confident in the team's depth in the high jump and for good reason. Three out of the top four jumpers in the men's high jump Saturday sported the orange and blue C-N uniform with Danilo Cardoso (Brazil) and the freshman Shouse (Jacksboro, Tenn.) both leaping to a mark of 2.06m.
For Cardoso, it has been a year of training and awaiting NCAA clearance to be able to participate in a sanctioned meet for C-N. In his first meet, he walks away with a share of first place; having provisionally qualified for the national championships.
Both Cardoso and Shouse attempted a height of 2.12m, falling narrowly shy of clearing what would have been the third-highest measurement in all of Division II this season.
Coming off of a successful cross country season, sophomore Rachel Strayer (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) posted the fifth-fastest time in the women's 3000 meters. New to the event, Strayer pulled off a mark that stood up against a trio of Appalachian State runners that swept the podium.
"That's a great sign that regardless of who is running with her she's going to run fast and that's what you always what you want," Needs said.
In the mile run, freshman Angie Dela Cruz (Morristown, Tenn.) posted a personal best in the mile run with a time of 6:06.07 – a full five seconds better than her time last month at the Bast-Cregger Invitational. On the men's side, freshman Kirby Logan (Andersonville, Tenn.) finished in the top-15 overall and won his heat with a time of 4:40.54.
In the long jump, freshman Cortavious Garrett (Greenwood, Fla.) finished fifth with a mark of 7.06m for a personal best in his first collegiate meet.
"To have the kind of guys and girls (that we have) come out and compete and get the job done on the second day of competition is really nice," Needs said. "Especially against the level of competition that they were faced with."
With a couple of weeks to rest and recover, C-N will turn its attention to the Finn Pincus Invitational on Jan. 24-25 in Salem, Va.
