Eagles begin outdoor season with hike to Hickory

Posted: Mar 20, 2021

HICKORY, N.C. - For the first time in 680 days, the Carson-Newman track & field squad is set to compete in an outdoor meet.

The Eagles will travel to Hickory, N.C. on Sunday, Mar. 21 to compete in the LR Bears Open on the campus of Lenoir-Rhyne University. The event will be live streamed on the Bears Sports Network beginning at 11:30 AM.

The field includes several SAC teams, including host Lenoir-Rhyne, Wingate, Tusculum, Mars Hill, Anderson, and Lincoln Memorial. Lees-McRae will also be competing along with Division III program Lynchburg

"We've always said that we're a better outdoor team," says Director of Track and Field and Cross Country David Needs. "We have more athletes that can develop in the outdoor season and make an impact and we can do more events and look at options that we have. We get a chance to show who we really are."

For Carson-Newman, the indoor season was a success despite there being no SAC Indoor Championship meet this season. Devon Moore and Joseph Oreva qualified for the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Ala.

Moore finished fourth place in both the 60 meter and 200 meter runs, making him an astonishing eight-time All-American, passing Tanner Stepp for the most in program history.

Moore's run of 6.74 seconds in the 60 meter at the UIndy Last Chance Meet ranked him fourth in the country, while his time of 21.44 seconds in the 200 meter at the VMI Classic placed him at eighth in the country. After finishing third and recording a false start in his first two 60 meter races of the season at the KMS Invitational in January, Moore won seven straight races in the men's 60 meter to close out the indoor regular season.

Oreva had a phenomenal debut for the Eagles, obliterating the 44 year old indoor school record in the long jump with a distance of 7.84 meters in his final jump of the day to win the competition. That distance ranked first in the nation at the Division II level by 0.09 meters. Oreva won all three regular season events he competed in, his closest win by 0.30 meters at the KMS Invitational in Birmingham, Ala.

Oreva overcame a heel injury to finish fourth in the long jump at the National Championships and earn his first career All-American honors.

On the women's side, Tia Davis had a strong end to the indoor season, resetting her personal best in the 60 meter run three weeks in a row. Her time of 7.72 seconds at the UIndy Last Chance Meet ties the school indoor record held by teammate Amanda Lowe.

In the 200 meter, Davis finished in the top eight in every single race, including a second place finish at the UIndy Last Chance Meet with a time of 26.08 seconds.

Lowe broke her own school indoor record in the 60 meter run with a time of 7.78 seconds at the Buccaneer Invitational on Feb. 6. One week later, she broke her own indoor record again by 0.06 seconds with a time of 7.72 seconds at the VMI Winter Classic.

The freshmen lead the way for the Eagles during the indoor season, as Sterling Melancon, Josh Whitaker, Sam Cleek, Shane Connell and Isaiah Weasby all earned All-Region honors.

Melancon meanwhile made an impressive debut at Carson-Newman, finishing third with a time of 6.87 seconds in the 60 meter run at the Buccaneer Invitational on Feb. 6. That time was good enough for 28th in the nation and was just 0.01 seconds from a provisional time for Nationals.

In the 200 meter run, Melancon set a personal best with a time of 22.05 seconds at the VMI Winter Classic and won his first ever collegiate event with a time of 22.21 seconds at the UIndy Last Chance Meet.

Both Cleek and Connell set personal bests of 2.00 meters this season and finished in the top four of every event they competed in.

Weasby won his first career event at the Buccaneer Invitational, winning his first collegiate event with a personal best time of 49.78 seconds in the 400 meter run.

Whitaker had one of the finest debuts in a Carson-Newman track and field uniform for any freshman, tying the school record in indoor men's pole vault with a jump of 4.55 meters in his first ever collegiate event. He would go on to earn his first career event win at the Buccaneer Invitational with a jump of 4.31 meters.

Abby Owens competed in just two events during the indoor season, but finished in the top two in both of them, winning the women's pole vault title at the Buccaneer Invitational with a clearance of 3.50 meters.

Nathalie Schumacher continued her strong career in the high jump, winning at her first two meets of the year with a clearance of 1.65 meters at the KMS Invitational and a clearance of 1.58 meters at the Buccaneer Invitational. Schumacher finished in the top three of every event she competed in and missed an NCAA Division II provisional mark by just 0.02 meters.

"We had a lot of people that impressed over the indoor season, especially the newcomers," says Needs. "Our groups got better in the indoor season. We had a lot of athletes that took a step forward and got better. You had different people step up and now in outdoor and see more people compete."

This is the team's first scheduled trip to the Moretz Sports Complex for the outdoor season. The next time the Eagles will head to Hickory will be for the SAC Outdoor Championships on April 24-25.

"Almost everybody from the SAC is going to be there," says Needs. "This is like a championship meet. It gives us a chance to assess our athletes and see where we are. This gives us a really good look at where we are and how they stack up against them for the conference meet in April."

The Eagles will head back to the Tarheel state on Friday, Mar. 26 to Black Mountain, N.C. to compete in the Montreat Invitational.