CLEVELAND, Tenn. - A trio of event championships along with two NCAA provisional marks highlight the Eagles day at the Lee Invitational on Saturday, Mar. 19.
Matthew Blackmon continued his strong freshman season, winning the event championship in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 14.72 seconds. It was the Melbourne, Fla. native's first career outdoor race in his Carson-Newman career, beating out athletes from Division-I Bellarmine and nationally ranked Lee. Blackmon is the first athlete from Carson-Newman to compete in the 110 meter hurdles since Adan Vazquez in 2019 and the first to win a 110 meter hurdle race for Carson-Newman since Darius Childs did so on Apr. 6, 2013 at the Wofford Invitational.
Why yes, he's pretty good at this outside stuff too.@Matthew_0708 wins his first outdoor event, winning the 110 meter hurdles championship at Lee @CN_Track pic.twitter.com/URrxQFTj0W
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) March 19, 2022
Abby Owens proved once again why she is one of the best in program history in the pole vault, winning her first event championship of the year with a clearance of 3.45 meters. The Ocala, Fla. native beat our four athletes from Alabam-Huntsville for the championship, her first since the 2021 SAC Outdoor Championships. Between her indoor and outdoor seasons, it is Owens' sixth career championship in the pole vault.
Indoor, outdoor, doesn't matter.
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) March 19, 2022
Abby Owens records her third straight top-three finish in the pole vault, winning the event at the Lee Invitational @CN_Track pic.twitter.com/c9W3NQwe6K
Courtavious Garrett earned his first career event championship, winning the long jump title with a jump of 6.82 meters. Garrett beat out teammate Christian Shouse for the win by 0.17 meters. Shouse finished second with a jump of 6.65 meters. Garrett has been successful at Lee in his career, finishing on the podium all three times he has competed at the Ray Conn Complex, finishing third at the 2021 Lee Invitational and second at the 2021 Lee Last Chance Meet. Garrett also finished fourth in the triple jump with a distance of 13.60 meters.
First. Career. Win. @CourtG_10 with his first career victory in the long jump today, winning the event by 0.17 meters @CN_Track pic.twitter.com/GjCqKZszLf
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) March 19, 2022
Both Makanakaishe Charamba and Trayzel Juredini-Wyche set NCAA provisional marks at the Lee Invitational.
Charamba set a provisional mark in his first ever outdoor 200 meter run at Carson-Newman. The Zimbabwe native finished second overall with a time of 21.11 seconds. Charamba finished second behind professional athlete Devonte Fletcher and beat out the third-place athlete by 0.19 seconds. The mark currently ranks as the third fastest time in all of Division-II for the event.
Juredini-Wyche finished second in the men's discus throw with a toss of 50.62 meters. The Georgia native's throw is an NCAA provisional mark and is currently the fourth longest toss in Division-II. Juredini-Wyche has now recorded eight straight top-five finishes in the event dating back to the 2019 Lenoir-Rhyne Invitational. Juredini-Wyche also finished eighth in the javelin with a throw of 45.31 meters.
"You love the event wins but you especially love the provisional marks," says Director of Track & Field and Cross Country David Needs. "The weather was not ideal today and for our guys to set those marks in these elements is really good. We have a lot of kids who are already doing better in outdoor than indoor and actually enjoy battling the elements. We had a lot of personal best marks and they took on the challenge. This was a good start to the outdoor season for sure."
The Eagles recorded 44 top-10 finishes and 19 personal bests in Cleveland on Saturday.
A quartet of Eagles finished inside the top-10 in the 100 meter run. Charamba also finished second in the 100 meter with a time of 10.71 seconds, while teammate Siphosethu Boya finished fourth with a time of 10.82 seconds. Tshenelo Lemao finished seventh with a time of 10.99 seconds and Zuriel Jimpson finished ninth with a time of 11.19 seconds. Delan Grant also competed in his first career outdoor race, recording a time of 11.59 seconds and a 19th place finish.
Grant also competed in the 200 meter run, finishing with a time of 24.01 seconds, just beating his old personal best time by 0.01 seconds.
Tia Davis finished fifth overall in the women's 100 meter run with a time of 12.73 seconds. It is her highest finish in the event since the 2021 LR Bears Open where she also finished fifth. Her teammate Timaya Ray finished 10th with a time of 12.73 seconds.
Davis was not done for the day as she finished third in the women's 200 meter run with a time of 25.09 seconds. She has now recorded five straight top-five finishes in the event dating back to the 2021 SAC Outdoor Championships.
Nathalie Schumacher was all over the track at the Ray Conn Complex on Saturday. The junior out of Germany finished seventh in the discus with a toss of 25.91 meters in her first time competing in the event. Schumacher then finished second in the high jump with a clearance of 1.60 meters. She has now recorded five straight top-three finishes in the event dating back to the 2021 Lee Invitational.
Schumacher also competed in the shot put, finishing sixth with a toss of 10.08 meters. The day ended for Schumacher with another top-10 finish, this time in the javelin with a third place finish and a throw of 32.96 meters, smashing her old personal best by over six meters.
Shane Connell continued his strong career in the high jump for the Eagles, finishing second with a clearance of 2.00 meters. Connell has recorded 10 straight top-10 finishes in the event. His teammate Sam Cleek finished behind him at third with a clearance of 1.95 meters.
Freshman Sydney McCarty continues to rack up podium placements in the long jump, finishing third with a personal best tying mark of 5.46 meters. The Sevierville native also finished third in the triple jump with a distance of 10.71 meters.
In her first career outdoor race with the Eagles, Tytiana Wilson finished third in the 400 meter run with a time of 59.00 seconds. Her teammate Abbie Zander finished seventh in her first outdoor event with C-N with a time of 1:02.28. Lauren Tabor recorded her first career top-ten finish in the event, finishing tenth with a new personal best mark of 1:02.89.
KJ Laribo finished eighth in the 400 meter run with a time of 51.39 seconds.
Camden Fritz finished sixth in the long jump with a distance of 6.43 meters. Fritz, along with teammate Oluwafemi Richards finished in the top-10 of the triple jump. Fritz hauled in a fifth place finish with a mark of 12.77 meters, while Richards finished right behind him at sixth place with a jump of 12.72 meters.
Morgan Bailey finished fifth in the 400 meter hurdles with a new personal best time of 1:09.61. Bailey has competed in the 400 meter hurdles four times in her career, recording three top-five finishes.
Raymond Brugmans recorded a fourth place finish in the 800 meter run with a time of 1:58.19. The fourth place finish is the highest Brugmans has finished in the event in his career so far in Mossy Creek.
Matthew Bretscher finished fourth in the pole vault with a clearance of 3.90 meters, his highest career finish so far.
Brooke Visser set a new personal best in the triple jump with a fourth place finish and a mark of 10.36 meters.
As the first Eagle to compete in the steeplechase since the 2019 outdoor season, Kirby Logan III finished sixth with a time of 10:55.18. It is also the first time Logan has competed in the event in his career.
Darcie Bagent finished eighth in the discus, shattering her old personal best in the event by almost four meters with a toss of 22.21 meters. Bagent also finished eighth in the shot put with a toss of 9.38 meters, a new personal best. The two marks are Bagent's first top-10 finishes in her career.
Ian Salyer finished seventh in the discus in his first time competing in the event with a toss of 40.76 meters. Salyer also finished tenth in the hammer throw with a toss of 37.30 meters. The freshman from Knoxville also competed in the javelin and shot put, finishing fifth in the javelin with a throw of 50.81 meters and fifth in the shot put with a toss of 12.80 meters.
Morgan Stanton finished fifth in the high jump with a clearance of 1.55 meters, just 0.01 meters short of a career best.
Susan Nelson finished ninth in the long jump with a distance of 4.79 meters, her second top-10 finish of the year.
The women's 4x100 meter relay team of Davis, Ray, Wilson and Bailey finished third with a time of 48.33 seconds. The men's 4x400 meter relay team of Boya, Laribo, Dupler and Brugmans also took home a third place finish with a time of 3:32.62.
Klara Naude set a new personal best in the 400 meter run, finishing with a time of 1:05.46 and beating her old time by 0:00.22 seconds.
Taylor Dupler set a new personal best in the 400 meter run, finishing the race in under 53 seconds for the first time in his career with a time of 52.36 seconds. His teammate Brett Lord also set a new personal best in the event, finishing with a time of 53.95 seconds.
Karli Yarid smashed her personal best in the 800 meter run by almost two seconds, finishing with a time of 2:46.14.
Brugmans set a personal best in the 1500 meter run by over three minutes, finishing with a time of 4:06.02. His teammate Christian Henry obliterated his personal best in the event by almost nine seconds, recording a time of 4:10.55 in the race. Hunter Miller competed in the event for the first time in his career, finishing with a mark of 4:25.76.
Henry also set a new personal best in the javelin with a throw of 38.72 meters.
In her first time running the 5000 meter run, Imke Van Gog recorded a time of 19:33.31.
Will Kolb reset his school record in the 5000 meter run by almost ten seconds, finishing under 16 minutes for the first time in his career with a time of 15:58.40.
Alexis Brown just missed out on a top-10 finish in her first time competing in the discus, finishing 11th with a toss of 20.33 meters. Brown did set a new personal best in the shot put by over one meter with a throw of 7.51 meters.
Matthew Campbell beat his personal best in the hammer throw by almost three meters, recording a toss of 36.34 meters.
"It's going to be a short week with Montreat coming up, but the younger athletes have stepped up and we'll see how they do along with some of our vets returning next week," says Needs.
The Eagles will head over the mountain for the Montreat Invitational on Mar. 25-26 at Montreat College. Fans can keep up with the Eagles all year long at cneagles.com.
