ANDERSON, S.C. - No. 23 Carson-Newman rolled at the Electric City Invitational, recording eleven event wins, setting two new NCAA provisional times, and breaking one school record on Saturday, Apr. 16.
The day began with a bang for the Eagles, as the men's 4x100 meter relay team of Makanakaishe Charamba, PJ Lotharp, Tshenelo Lemao and Siphosethu Boya won the race with a time of 40.59 seconds. That mark is the twelfth fastest in all of Division-II, as the quartet record their third straight win in the event, defeating Lenoir-Rhyne by 0.77 seconds.
The time is also a new school record, breaking the old mark set all the way back in 1976 of 40.70 seconds. The time was the second-oldest men's outdoor track record still standing before today, lasting 46 years.
For those who want to see the race, don't look away from your phones, because it is QUICK @CN_Track pic.twitter.com/Se9kGjPa1y
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) April 16, 2022
Boya and Charamba were not done yet for the Eagles, recording three event wins between them.
Charamba won the 100-meter and 200-meter runs for the second straight week. The Harare, Zimbabwe native won the 100-meter run by 0.14 seconds over Marlin Davis of Lenoir-Rhyne with a time of 10.41 seconds. That time is a new personal best and moves Charamba to a tie for the eleventh fastest time in Division-II in the race with Phillip Landrum of Fort Hays State.
In the 200-meter run, the freshman won the race by 0.44 seconds, beating out Noah Meadows of Southern Wesleyan with a time of 20.87 seconds. Charamba has now won seven straight races he has competed in this outdoor season.
Boya won the 400-meter run with a time of 47.65 seconds. That mark demolishes his old C-N personal best mark of 49.07 seconds by 1.42 seconds. That time is also an NCAA provisional mark, and is tied with Nolan Churchman of Fort Hays State for the 18th fastest time in Division-II.
Shane Connell got in on the action in the high jump, recording an NCAA provisional mark with a clearance of 2.05 meters. The Manchester, England native was the only jumper in the entire field to clear 2.00 meters. Connell has now won three straight and four of the last five event championships in the high jump.
Courtavious Garrett picked up a pair of event championships this weekend, winning the long jump and triple jump championships in the Electric City. Garrett took home the long jump title with a distance of 7.12 meters, his second win of the season in the event. His teammates Christian Shouse and Camden Fritz finished right behind him in the event, with Shouse taking home second with a distance of 7.06 meters and Fritz finishing third with a distance of 6.85 meters.
Garrett earned his first career win in the triple jump with a personal best jump of 14.46 meters in the event. Garrett was the only competitor to clear 14 meters, beating out Nick Henriques of Lenoir-Rhyne by 0.58 meters. That mark also beats his old previous personal best by 0.22 meters. His teammate Fritz also finished inside the top-10, finishing fifth with a personal best mark of 12.95 meters.
For the second time this season, Matthew Blackmon earned a win in the 110 meter hurdles. The freshman ran a personal best time of 14.71 seconds to earn the win. Blackmon is the first Carson-Newman men's hurdler to win multiple event championships in the race since Darius Childs did so in 2013.
Abby Owens earned her second event win of the outdoor season, winning the pole vault championship with a clearance of 3.50 meters. Owens was the only athlete to clear 3.25 meters, beating out Pearl Ballard of Lenoir-Rhyne, who cleared just 3.10 meters. The win is Owens' seventh of her career.
Katie Smock won her first career race as an Eagle, winning the women's 10,000 meter run. The Kodak, Tenn. native won the race with a time of 41:33.81.
Trayzel Jureidini-Wyche recorded his second win of the season in the discus with a toss of 49.21 meters. The senior has recorded eleven straight top-five finishes in the event dating back to the 2019 L-R Classic.
"Today was all the good times without the bad weather," says Director of Track & Field and Cross Country David Needs. "The provisional times are great, but you look across the board and almost everyone set a new PR this week. I challenged the athltes to be better this week than last week and that's the mark of a team that's moving forward. It's a huge positive for us to see guys compete and constantly improve."
In all, the Eagles claimed 38 top-10 finishes and 35 personal bests at Anderson.
In the 100-meter run, Tia Davis finished fifth with a time of 12.39 seconds. She also finished third in the 200-meter run with a time of 25.52 seconds. Davis has now recorded four top-10 finishes in both events combined this season.
Tytiana Wilson has now finished inside the top-10 of the 400-meter run in seven straight races. The freshman finished third with a time of 58.01 seconds. Her teammate Abbie Zander finished eighth with a new personal best time of 1:00.32, her second top-10 finish in the race this season.
KJ Laribo recorded a new personal best in the 400-meter run, finishing eighth with a time of 49.97 seconds, beating out his old personal best mark by 0.91 seconds.
Morgan Bailey finished seventh in the 400-meter hurdles with a new personal best time of 1:07.43. That mark beats her old personal best by a whopping 2.04 seconds.
In the 1500-meter run, Raymond Brugmans finished tenth with a new personal best time, finishing the race in under four minutes for the first time in his career. The Dutchman finished the race with a time of 3:59.23.
Kirby Logan III absolutely obliterated his personal best in the 3000-meter steeplechase, finishing eighth with a time of 10:29.93. That time beats his old personal best by almost 14 seconds.
For the second straight meet he has competed in, Channler Moran-Boothe set a new personal best in the 10,000 meter run, finishing fourth with a time of 34:52.18, beating his old personal best time by over five seconds.
Sam Cleek finished third in the high jump with a clearance of 1.91 meters, his second third place finish of the 2022 outdoor season. On the women's side, Morgan Stanton finished eighth in the event with a clearance of 1.55 meters. He also competed in the pole vault, finishing sixth with a clearance of 4.10 meters.
Jureidini-Wyche recorded a seventh place finish in the javelin with a toss of 48.09 meters, his tenth straight top-10 finish in the event. He also recorded a personal best in the hammer throw, competing in the event for the first time since the 2018 Johnson C Smith Invitational, recording a toss of 32.60 meters.
The women's long jump squad recorded the second, third, and fourth place finishes in the event. Sydney McCarty led the way for C-N, finishing second with a jump of 5.57 meters. The freshman has now recorded eight straight top-10 finishes in the event. Susan Nelson finished third with a jump of 5.27 meters, while Brooke Visser crossed the five meter threshold for the first time in her career, finishing fourth with a distance of 5.26 meters.
Matthew Bretscher recorded his fourth straight top-10 finish in the pole vault with a clearance of 3.95 meters. On the women's side, Marlee Baker finished sixth with a clearance of 2.65 meters in the event.
PJ Lotharp recorded a new personal best while at Carson-Newman in the 100-meter run, finishing fourth with a time of 10.62 seconds. In his first action back from injury, Devon Moore finished sixth in the 100-meter run with a time of 10.73 seconds. Lemao rounds out the top-10 for the convocation with a time of 10.85 seconds.
Luke Smith finished fifth in the shot put with a toss of 13.94 meters, his fourth straight top-10 finish in the event. Teammate Ian Salyer set a new personal best with an eighth place finish in the event with a throw of 13.28 meters. Jureidni-Wyche finished tenth in the event with a toss of 13.10 meters.
Salyer also recorded a top-10 finish in the discus, finishing seventh with a toss of 41.34 meters.
In her first time ever competing in the event, Kennadi Yoder finished the 100-meter run with a time of 13.65 seconds. Her teammate Faith Nelms set a new personal best with a time of 13.70 seconds.
Yoder also competed in the javelin for the first time in her career, slinging the spear 15.76 meters.
Blackmon ran the 100-meter dash for the first time in his collegiate career, recording a time of 11.20 seconds. Austin Greer set a personal best mark in the race with a time of 11.21 seconds, while Emmanuel Olaluyi set a new personal best in the race for the second week in a row with a time of 12.32 seconds.
Taylor Dupler set a personal best in the 200-meter run with a time of 23.93 seconds, his first time finishing the race in under 24 seconds in his career. Olaluyi ran the race for the first time in his short track & field career, finishing with a time of 25.48 seconds.
Lauren Tabor just set a personal best in the 400-meter run with a time of 1:02.12. On the men's side, Dupler set a new personal best in the event by 0.01 seconds, recording a new best time of 52.35 seconds.
In the 800-meter run, Imke Van Gog beat her old personal best in the race by eight seconds, finishing with a time of 2:33.66. Meanwhile, Olivia Fanning recorded a time of 2:41.11 in her first time ever running in the 800-meter race. Karli Yarid beat her personal best by four seconds with a time of 2:42.09.
Van Gog also set a personal best in the 1500-meter run, finishing with a time of 5:09.21. Fanning also set a new personal best in the race with a time of 5:34.30.
In his first of three events competed in today, Trent Lovelace set a new personal best in the 800-meter run, recording a time of 2:04.79. He then went on to demolish his personal best in the 1500-meter run by 20 seconds, finishing with a time of 4:17.24.
Lovelace also set a personal best in the javelin, recorded a throw of over 40 meters for the first time in his career, setting a mark of 41.01 meters.
Christian Henry set a new personal best in the 1500-meter run by almost four seconds, finishing with a time of 4:06.82. Teammate Hunter Miller beat his old personal best mark in the event by over six seconds with a time of 4:20.16. Will Kolb meanwhile rolled over his previous best time by 13 seconds, finishing with a time of 4:22.07.
Darcie Bagent set a new personal best in the hammer throw by over four meters with a toss of 24.78 meters.
In the team standings, the no. 23 Carson-Newman men won the event championship with 147 points, beating out Lenoir-Rhyne who had 96 points. The Carson-Newman women finished fifth with 62 points. Lenoir-Rhyne won the women's championship with 119 points.
The Eagles will wrap up the regular season at the LR Outdoor Open in Hickory, N.C. on Saturday, Apr. 23. Fans can keep up to date with all of the Eagle action at cneagles.com.
