ANDERSON, S.C. - The Carson-Newman track & field team travel to the Palmetto State for the 2022 SAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, beginning on Thursday, May 5.

The Carson-Newman men enter the championship event as the no. 18 ranked team in all of NCAA Division-II track & field. A majority of their success can be attributed this season to their sprints group.

Last week at Vanderbilt, the quartet of PJ Lotharp, Makanakaishe Charamba, Siphosethu Boya and Devon Moore won the race with a time of 40.44 seconds, beating out Division-I Arkansas State by 0.78 seconds in the event. The team also beat out the teams from no. 23 ranked D-II Lindenwood and UT-Martin. 

The time beats the school record mark of 40.59 seconds set earlier in the year by Boya, Charamba, Lotharp and Tshenelo Lemaoat the Electric City Invite just seven days ago in Anderson, S.C.

The mark is also the tenth-fastest time in all of Division-II, beating out Pittsburg State for the top-10 spot by 0.07 seconds. 

Individually, the men's 100-meter group is ranked as the second-fastest in all of Division-II by the USTFCCCA Track & Field Ratings Index with an average time of 10.38 seconds.

Siphosethu Boya set the tenth-fastest time in Division-II at the Vanderbilt Outdoor Music City Challenge, finishing second in the race with a time of 10.30 seconds.

His teammate Devon Moore sits at 18th in the nation with a time of 10.40 seconds, also set in Nashville. Makanakaishe Charamba sits behind Moore at 20th with a time of 10.41 seconds recorded at the Lee Flames Invitational.

PJ Lotharp rounds out the list for the Eagles, sitting at 22nd with a time of 10.42 seconds in the event. 

Charamba has also excelled in the 200-meter run for the Eagles this season. The freshman holds the eighth fastest time in the event after winning the event championship at the Lee Flames Invitational with a time of 20.84 seconds. Counting his participation in the 4x100 relay, Charamba has won eight straight races he has competed in this outdoor season. 

"It cannot be understated how well (sprints coach) Kieran Showler-Davis has done this season with his crew," says Director of Track & Field David Needs. "They have gone above and beyond and ended the regular season knocking off several Division-I athletes. That group has excelled and is set up to have a fantastic close to the season at the SAC meet."

In the field, Shane Connell has dominated the high jump this season, recording four straight victories in the event this season. 

Connell ended the regular season 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. He has cleared 2.00 meters ten times and has cleared 2.05 meters three times in his career, including tying his personal best at the Electric City Invitational in Anderson earlier this season.

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. 

Joseph Oreva meanwhile holds the second-best jump in all of Division-II long jump this season. The sophomore finished third in the long jump at the LSU Joe May Invitational with a distance of 7.77 meters. That mark sets a new meet record and is just 0.03 meters short of the school record set by Larry Cooke in 1977.  Oreva beat out jumpers from LSU, Houston, Kentucky, Kent State and UConn at the event in Baton Rouge.

Not to be outdone, teammate Courtavious Garrett has come on strong for the Eagles. The last time the team competed in Anderson, Garrett picked up a pair of event championships, 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.

He ended his day at Anderson with 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 beat his old previous personal best by 0.22 meters. 

"The development of this team has been very fun to watch," says Needs. "Court was a bit of a project and he's had to go through a Covid shortened season and now a new coach with Kris Potts-Howard taking over. But he has exceled this season with multiple wins and he can only go up from here."

In throws, Trayzel Juredini-Wyche continues to impress, as the senior tossed a new school record mark in the discus with a toss of 53.81 meters at the Montreat Invitational. The Douglasville, Ga. native has finished inside the top-10 in the event at 12 straight meets now. His toss of 53.81 meters ranks seventh in the country. 

On the women's side, Abby Owens owns a pair of event wins in the pole vault this outdoor season. She took home the event championship at the Lee Invitational on Mar. 19 with a clearance of 3.45 meters, before winning her second championship at the Electric City Invitational with a clearance of 3.50 meters. Owens also finished third in the event at the Montreat Invitational with a clearance of 3.25 meters.

This season, Nathalie Schumacher has done it all for the Eagles. The junior from Germany won the high jump championship at the Montreat Invitational with a clearance of 1.59 meters. She also has the furthest throw of any women's shot put athlete this year for Carson-Newman, with her toss of 10.08 meters in the shot put at Montreat giving her a fifth place finish.

"The women's team is always improving," says Needs. "Pole vault is one of the hardest events to compete in so for Abby to do so well at a constant level is amazing. Another person to mention is Tia Davis as she has just been consistent and a leader for a young sprints group over the course of her career."

Action begins on Thursday, May 5 at 10:30 AM, while events begin on Friday, May 6, at 10:00 AM. A live stream will be available for the afternoon events for free on the SAC Digital Network here beginning at 2:15 PM on Thursday and 1:45 PM on Friday. Live stats for every event can be found for free via TimingInc here.