NEW ORLEANS, La. - After claiming a pair of gold medals at the SAC Indoor Championships, the Carson-Newman track & field team places nine athletes on the USTFCCCA Southeast Indoor All-Region Team, announced on Tuesday, Mar. 8.
The top-5 individuals in each event from each region earned All-Region distinction, in addition to each member of the region's top-3 relay teams.
Devon Moore earned honors in both the 60-meter and 200-meter runs, while national championship qualifier and SAC gold medalist Joseph Oreva and SAC gold medalist Shane Connell also earned honors in their respective events. Matthew Blackmon, Makanakaishe Charamba, Sam Cleek, and Christian Shouse round out the men's side while Abby Owens and Nathalie Schumacher earn honors on the women's side.
The lone national qualifier for the Eagles, Oreva earned all-region honors in the long jump for the second straight season. The sophomore out of Port Harcourt, Nigeria competed at just two events but won both, winning the event championship at the Tiger Paw Invite in Louisville, Ky. and the SAC Indoor Championships. His jump of 7.43 meters at the JDL Fast Track earned Oreva the 14 seed in the event for the NCAA Division-II Indoor Championships.
Moore earned honors in the 60-meter and 200-meter runs for the fourth straight indoor season. The Baxley, Ga. native finished with a pair of NCAA provisional marks in both events, recording a time of 21.46 seconds in the 200-meter run at the UofSC Invitational, the 29th fastest time in Division-II. Moore finished third in the SAC Indoor Championships in the 60-meter run with a time of 6.88 seconds.
The SAC champion in the men's high jump, Shane Connell earned his second straight All-Region honor in the event. The Manchester, England native won the conference championship with a clearance of 2.02 meters, his first career conference championship. Connell has never finished lower than fourth in the event in his time in Mossy Creek, including nine straight top-three finishes.
After returning from injury this year, Shouse earned his second-career All-Region honors in the high jump for the indoor season. The 2020 USTFCCCA Southeast Region Indoor Field Athlete of the Year finished third in the high jump at the SAC Indoor Championships with a clearance of 1.97 meters. Shouse competed in both the long jump and high jump this indoor season, finishing no lower than 10th in either event. He won the long jump event championship at the ETSU Invitational with a jump of 7.00 meters.
For the second straight indoor season, Sam Cleek earned All-Region honors, but this time in the pole vault. The freshman out of Kingsport, Tenn., excelled at the end of the season in the event, finishing second at the SAC Indoor Championships with a clearance of 4.58 meters, a new school record. Cleek previously earned All-Region accolades in the high jump. Cleek competed in both events this season, finishing no lower than seventh in either event.
Blackmon and Charamba both earned their first career All-Region honors. Charamba earned his honors in the 60 meter run. The freshman from Zimbabwe had the fastest time on the team in the 60-meter run this season, running the race at 6.81 seconds at the ETSU Invitational this season, an NCAA provisional time. Charamba finished inside the top-eight in every single 60-meter run he competed in this season.
Blackmon made quite the splash in his arrival to Mossy Creek this season. The freshman out of Florida broke the school record in the 60 meter hurdles in his first career race at the ETSU Invitational. He would go on to reset the record in five of his first six career races in the event, winning two event championships. His time of 8.20 seconds was the 31st fastest time in all of NCAA Division-II indoor track & field this season and was the first men's hurdler to set a provisional mark in the hurdles since 1989.
On the women's side, Schumacher earned her third straight all-region honors in the high jump. The junior out of Germany became the first Carson-Newman women's athlete to earn back-to-back SAC Indoor Female Athlete of the Week honors this season, recording an event championship at the Buccaneer Invitational in the event with a clearance of 1.61 meters. Her clearance of 1.60 meters at the SAC Indoor Championships was good enough for a third place finish, her second bronze medal of her career in the event.
Rounding out the honors for the Eagles is Owens with her third straight accolade in the pole vault. The sophomore out of Ocala, Fla. finished second in the event at the SAC Indoor Championships with a clearance of 3.10 meters. Owens has finished inside of the top-five in the event at four straight meets.
This is the fifth straight season that the Eagles have earned at least 10 All-Region accolades in indoor track & field
Lee (Tenn.) led the overall combined All-Region count with 62.
Oreva will look to earn his second career first-team All-American honors and a national championship in the long jump at the NCAA Division-II Indoor Championships in Pittsburg, Kan. on Mar. 11. Oreva will compete in the first flight at 5:50 PM. Links to live stats and video can be found at cneagles.com.
