CLEVELAND, Tenn. - After recording a pair of fifth place finishes at the SAC Indoor Championships, the Carson-Newman track & field team open the outdoor season at the Lee Invitational on Saturday, Mar. 19.
Both the men's and women's teams finished fifth at the SAC Indoor Championships this season. A pair of athletes won gold medals, with Shane Connell earning gold in the high jump and Joseph Oreva earning gold in the long jump.
Oreva went on to represent the Eagles at the 2022 NCAA Division-II Indoor Track & Field Championships in Pittsburg, K.S. in the event. The sophomore from Port Harcourt, Nigeria finished sixth-place, earning first-team All-American honors for the second straight season. Oreva is the first long jumper in program history to earn back-to-back indoor All-American honors.
"I am so proud of Joseph and his coach Kris Potts-Howard," says Director of Track & Field and Cross Country David Needs. "The way they stepped up with Joseph having just four practices in the past month because of injury and he improved his mark from last year. He continues our streak of All-Americans and he had a great attitude and was able to get marks. He is looking forward to hopefully a national championship this outdoor season."
Several Eagle athletes will look to make an impact during the outdoor track & field season. Most notably is Trayzel Juredini-Wyche, who will compete in the discus and javelin once again for Carson-Newman.
The junior out of Georgia ginished inside the top-10 of every single event in the javelin and discus. Juredini-Wyche won the 2021 SAC Outdoor Championship in discus with a school-record toss of 51.14 meters, while also earning bronze medal in the javelin with a personal best toss of 51.69 meters. Juredini-Wyche ended the 2021 outdoor season by setting a new school record in the discus at the Montreat Final with a first place finish and a toss of 53.09 meters, the 15th longest discus toss in the nation at the NCAA Division II level.
"Tray is Mr. Clutch," says Needs. "He finished top-four in the shot put at Indoor and that's not even his event. He has that pilot light inside him that clicks on when it's time to compete. If we can get Tray to nationals, he is a guy that will be on the podium and will be high on that podium. It does not matter if he's chasing down a quarterback in football or throwing a discus or javelin. He always competes and we appreciate him so much for bringing that energy."
On the women's side, Nathalie Schumacher will look to build off a solid 2022 indoor campaign. The junior out of Germany finished third in the high jump at the SAC indoor championships while also setting personal bests in the shot put and long jump. Schumacher won the high jump event championship at the 2022 Buccaneer Invitational in Johnson City, Tenn. with a clearance of 1.61 meters.
Schumacher will also compete in the javelin this outdoor season. She competed in the javelin at last year's Lee Invitational, finishing 12th with a throw of 26.46 meters.
This is the third time in program history that the Eagles will compete at the Ray Conn Sports Complex at Lee University. The Eagles competed at both the Lee Invitational and the Lee Last Chance Meet in 2021.
At the Lee Invitational last year, Devon Moore finished second in his heat and third overall in the men's 200 meter run with a time of 21.15 seconds, moving him up to fifth in the nation at the time. Moore also won the 100 meter run with a time of 10.38 seconds, the third fastest in Division II in the event.
The senior out of Baxley, Ga. finished the outdoor season tied for the second-fastest time in the nation in the 100-meter run with a time 10.30 seconds, tying the school record. That mark was also set at Lee, this time at the Last Chance Meet.
The women also saw success at Lee last season. The 4x100 meter relay team of Amanda Lowe, Tia Davis, Morgan Bailey and Timaya Ray reset their own school record set earlier in the season in the event with a time of 47.32 seconds. That quartet set or reset the school record three times during the 2021 outdoor campaign.
In all, 26 total athletes will look to make their outdoor track & field debuts for the Eagles this season.
"We're a team that tries not to peak too early," says Needs. "We're not trying to be at the peak at this first meet, but at the conference and national meet. That's why we have been successful on the national stage in the outdoor event. It's a collective effort from our coaches, trainer Kelly Brock and from Jeff in the weight room to stay in shape and get better as the year goes along."
The Lee Invitational begins at 9:00 AM on Saturday, Mar. 19. Fans can follow the action online with live results here or with updates on twitter at @cn_eagles.
