HICKORY, N.C. - Shane Connell won his fourth straight high jump event championship of the season, this time claiming victory at the LR Bears Outdoor Open on Saturday, Apr. 23.
The Manchester, England native was the lone competitor to clear 2.00 meters, beating out Levi Higgins of Mars Hill who cleared 1.95 meters.
The win is Connell's fourth straight of the season and his sixth career victory since arriving in Mossy Creek last year. He has cleared 2.00 meters ten times and has cleared 2.05 meters three times in his career, including last week at the Electric City Invitational.
Connell has the most high jump wins in a row for the Eagles since Tanner Stepp won six straight event championships from the 2017 Bast-Cregger Invitational to the 2018 Montreat College Invitational. During that run, Stepp claimed the 2018 NCAA Division-II Indoor high jump national championship.
The rest of the small convocation that made the trip to Hickory recorded five top-10 finishes and three personal bests.
Kennadi Yoder blew past her old personal best in the javelin by 12.23 meters, finishing tenth in the event with a toss of 27.99 meters in just her second time ever competing in the event.
Danielle D'Alesio recorded her highest career finish in the 400 meter hurdles, finishing seventh with a time of 1:17.44.
Both Rachel Strayer and Madison Dockery recorded top-10 finishes in the 5000-meter run. Strayer finished sixth with a time of 18:23.36, her fourth straight top-10 finish in the event. Dockery finished ninth with a time of 19:42.57, beating her old personal best by over eight seconds. It is also her highest finish in the event in her career.
Trent Lovelace finished 12th out of 37 runners in the 1500-meter run with a new personal best time of 4:16.18. He also finished 11th in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:08.85.
Despite having just six athletes compete in seven events, the Eagle men finished 12th in the team standings with 10 points while the women finished 13th.
Another small convocation of Eagles will wrap up the regular season at the Outdoor Music City Challenge at Vanderbilt University on Apr. 29-30 in Nashville. Fans can find all of the information and keep up with Carson-Newman track & field at cneagles.com.
