ANDERSON, S.C. - The Carson-Newman track & field team opened the SAC Outdoor Championships on Thursday, May 5, claiming four gold medals, one silver medal, one bronze medal and setting a pair of school records at the event.
The Eagles opened the SAC Championship meet with a bang, taking home the men's 4x100 meter relay championship with a school record run of 39.93 seconds. The quartet of PJ Lotharp, Makanakaishe Charamba, Siphosethu Boya and Devon Moore broke the school record for the second straight week, becoming the first C-N men's relay team to finish the race in under 40 seconds.
The time is also the fifth fastest time in the event in all of Division-II. As of May 5, only five teams in Division-II had finished the 4x100 men's relay in under 40 seconds in the 2022 outdoor track season.
�� THAT IS HOW YOU START A CHAMPIONSHIP
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) May 5, 2022
The @CN_Track men demolish the school record in the 4x100 meter relay on the way to the gold medal with a time of 39.93 seconds
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Winning his fifth straight high jump championship of the season, Shane Connell took home his first SAC Outdoor Championship medal in his career, winning the high jump with a clearance of 2.00 meters. The Manchester, England native needed just one jump to clear the two meter mark, clinching the second championship of the day for the Carson-Newman men. It is the second straight year that the Eagles have won the men's high jump championship after Isaiah Kyle won the event in 2021.
You know what SAC stands for right?
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) May 5, 2022
Shane's
A
Champ
Shane Connell clinches his fifth straight win in the high jump and the gold medal in Anderson @CN_Track
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For the fourth straight SAC Track & Field Championship event, Joseph Oreva won the long jump championship for Carson-Newman. Oreva jumped a distance of 7.50 meters, beating out Jacob Wadsworth of Lenoir-Rhyne by 0.21 meters. Oreva has now won seven career event championships in Mossy Creek.
For the second straight season, Abby Owens won the women's pole vault championship. Owens won the event with a clearance of 3.45 meters, beating out Pearl Ballard of Lenoir-Rhyne by 0.20 meters. Owens has now won three event championships this outdoor track & field season. She is the first C-N women's pole vaulter to win two SAC championships since Tori Gaul won a pair of titles in 2016 and 2018.
BACK-TO-BACK
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) May 5, 2022
For the second year in a row, Abby Owens wins the SAC Championship in the pole vault @CN_Track
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Sydney McCarty took home her first career medal in the long jump, finishing third with a jump of 5.57 meters. The freshman has recorded six straight top-five finishes in the event.
For the fourth straight championship event, Nathalie Schumacher earned a medal in the high jump, finishing tied for second in the event with Melanie Welsing of Queens. The pair both cleared 1.65 meters on their final jump of the round. Schumacher has now finished with eight straight top-five finishes in the event.
A total of 10 Eagles will be moving onto the finals of their respective events on Friday, May 6.
Not only did Tytiana Wilson win her heat in the 400-meter run, but the freshman also set the school record in the event with a time of 56.49 seconds. That time beats the old school record set in 2014 by Shauntae Miller with a time of 57.07 seconds. The time also beats Wilson's old personal best by a whopping 1.49 seconds. Wilson beat out Mariah Mitchem of Coker by 0.23 seconds to win the heat and take the one seed into the finals.
✅ Win the heat
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) May 5, 2022
✅ Break a school record
Tytiana Wilson takes first in her heat and breaks the eight-year-old school record in the 400-meter run @CN_Track
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Matthew Blackmon won his heat in the prelims of the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.62 seconds. The freshman has recorded three event wins in the event this outdoor season, finishing no lower than fifth in his first season in Mossy Creek.
Boya, Charamba, Lotharp and Moore all advanced to the finals of the 100-meter run. Boya recorded the fastest time in the prelims with a time of 10.32 seconds. The Lee transfer has competed in the 100-meter run just three times this season, and has already set a provisional time and has finished no lower than fourth in the event.
Charamba smashed his personal best in the event by 0.13 seconds, finishing behind Boya with a time of 10.35 seconds. That time moves the freshman into a tie with Herman Chongwain of Quincy for the 13th fastest time in Division-II.
Lotharp set a C-N personal best in the 100-meter run with a time of 10.52 seconds, finishing fifth in the prelims. Moore qualified for the finals finishing seventh with a time of 10.60 seconds. The senior has now recorded 17 straight top-10 finishes in the event.
Charamba and Boya were not done, moving into the finals of the 200-meter run. Charamba won the prelims with a time of 20.95 seconds, while Boya finished behind him with a time of 21.06 seconds. That time is a new personal best and is an NCAA provisional mark, ranking as the 20th fastest time in Division-II
Tia Davis moves on to the finals of the 100-meter run, finishing seventh in the prelims with a time of 12.23 seconds. Davis has finished in the top-10 in the 100-meter run in four of the last five meets she has competed in.
Davis will also compete in the finals of the 200-meter run after finishing sixth with a time of 25.24 seconds. This is her eighth top-10 finish in the race in the last nine events.
The Eagles recorded 13 top-10 finishes and eleven personal bests on the opening day of the 2022 SAC Outdoor Championships.
Rachel Strayer closed out her career by setting a new school record in the 10,000 meter run, finishing 14th with a time of 39:10.96. Strayer beat the record set back in 2019 by Bekah White by 1:19.24 seconds. Strayer leaves Mossy Creek setting the school record in the 5,000 and 10,000 meter runs in her senior season.
That's how you close out a career. @rachelmstrayer sets a new school record in the 10,000 meter run@CN_Track pic.twitter.com/DJXus6IG2A
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) May 6, 2022
In their first time ever competing as a team this season, the women's 4x100 meter relay team finished fifth in the event with a time of 47.76 seconds to earn four points for the C-N women.
Brooke Visser just missed out on a top-eight finish in the long jump, finishing ninth with a personal best jump of 5.29 meters. It's her third straight top-10 finish in the event.
Matthew Bretscher tied his personal best in the pole vault, finishing ninth with a clearance of 4.00 meters. It is the freshman's fifth straight top-10 finish in the event.
KJ Laribo just missed on a personal best in the 400-meter run, finishing tenth with a time of 50.11 seconds. It's his seventh career top-10 finish in the 400-meter run.
Tshenelo Lemao finished sixth in the 100-meter run with a time of 10.53 seconds, running well past his old personal best time of 10.85 seconds in the event.
Trayzel Jureidini-Wyche opened his weekend in Anderson with an eighth place finish in the javelin with a toss of 48.71 meters. It's the senior's tenth straight top-10 finish in the event.
Morgan Bailey finished tenth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:09.27, her fourth top-10 finish in the event this season.
Tying her career best in the high jump, Morgan Stanton finished ninth with a clearance of 1.56 meters.
Marlee Baker recorded her third top-10 finish in the pole vault of the outdoor season, finishing fourth with a clearance of 2.80 meters.
Christian Shouse earned his eleventh straight top-10 finish in the high jump, finishing tied for fourth with a clearance of 1.90 meters. His teammate Oluwafemi Richards finished tenth, tying his personal best in the event with a clearance of 1.85 meters.
Both Schumacher and Kennadi Yoder represented the Eagles in the javelin, with Schumacher finishing seventh with a new personal best toss of 34.89 meters. Yoder finished ninth with a toss of 34.47 meters, beating her old personal best by 6.48 meters. Yoder also set a new personal best in the 100 meter run with a time of 13.36 seconds.
Abbie Zander beat her personal best in the 400-meter run by 0.20 seconds with a time of 1:00.12.
Raymond Brugmans just beat his personal best in the 800-meter run, beating his old time by 0.10 seconds and finishing the race in the electric city with a time of 1:56.35. His teammate Trent Lovelace smashed his old personal best by over two seconds, finishing with a time of 2:02.76.
Darcie Bagent absolutely obliterated her personal best in the hammer throw by 5.70 meters, recording a toss of 30.48 meters. It's the second straight meet that Bagent has broken her personal best in the event.
Overall, the Carson-Newman men sit in fourth with 36.5 points while the women also sit in fourth with 33 points. Wingate is in first place on the men's side with 69.5 points, while Lenoir-Rhyne is in first place in the women's standings with 92.5 points.
The 2022 SAC Outdoor Championships continue tomorrow, May 6, at 10:00 AM. Fans can follow along with live stats here and a live video stream on the SAC Digital Network here.
