ANDERSON, S.C. - Hauling in three gold medals, Makanakaishe Charamba was named the 2022 SAC Men's Track & Field Freshman of the Year and the 2022 SAC Outdoor Championship Athlete of the Meet on the final day of the championship event.
The Carson-Newman men's sprints team started the day strong, sweeping the podium in the finals of the 100-meter run. Charamba won the conference championship with a time of 10.36 seconds. That is a new personal best for the freshman and moves Charamba past David Morgan of Angelo State for 14th fastest in Division-II.
His teammate Siphosethu Boya finished second to earn the silver medal with a time of 10.41 seconds. Rounding out the perfect sweep for Carson-Newman was PJ Lotharp finishing third, also with a time of 10.41 seconds. That time is an NCAA provisional mark and moves Lotharp into a tie with fellow Eagle Devon Moore and Braylen Brewer of Pittsburg State for the 20th fastest time in Division-II.
Chramba's day wasn't done, as the Harare, Zimbabwe native won the gold medal in the 200-meter run with a time of 21.02 seconds. Charamba has now won eleven straight finals races combined between the 100-meter, 200-meter and 4x100 meter relay races.
Charamba is the second straight Eagle to win the SAC Outdoor Men's Freshman of the Year Award. Sterling Melancon won the award in 2021. The Eagles have now won three of the last four SAC Men's Freshman of the Year awards, as Christian Shouse took home the honor after the 2020 indoor season.
"Maka is a clear talent," says Director of Track & Field and Cross Country David Needs "He is one of the best in the nation and it showed this week. Not only does he compete, but he supports his teammates. He went and ran the 200 meter and then went and watched Tray throw the discus because he wanted to support him. Those are the kind of kids you want on your team."
�� Athlete of the meet
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) May 6, 2022
�� Freshman of the Year
��Three gold medals
There's no stopping Maka Charamba@CN_Track pic.twitter.com/LWgIaaWBAA
Maka watched Trayzel Jureidini-Wyche win his second straight gold medal in the discus, finishing first with a toss of 52.61 meters. He was the lone competitor to sling the disc over 50 meters, beating out Elliot Zirwas of Wingate by 5.28 meters. The senior has now finished in the top-five in the discus at 13 straight meets.
We realize this is late, but our @CN_Track SID @Ricardo_Knows was doing something called "Graduation."
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) May 7, 2022
Anywho, @45_houdini rolls to his first career gold medal in the discus, beating out the competition by over six meters pic.twitter.com/fNkXc2ZYt3
In the 110-meter hurdles, freshman Matthew Blackmon finished second in the event, earning his first career SAC championship medal. Blackmon took home the silver medal with a new personal best mark of 14.67 seconds. It is also Blackmon's third win of the season in the event.
Silver end to a phenomenal season. @Matthew_0708 takes home the silver medal in the 110 meter hurdles @CN_Track pic.twitter.com/c1F4ycyubB
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) May 6, 2022
The Eagles recorded 14 top-10 finishes and five personal bests to close out the SAC Outdoor Championships.
The women's 4x400 meter relay team of Abbie Zander, Tytiana Wilson, Morgan Bailey and Lauren Tabor set a new school record in the event, finishing fifth with a time of 3:58.70. That team beats the old record set back in 2015 by Tori Gaul, Samantha Gudger, Madison Pickel and Shuantae Miller. It was just the group's second time racing together as a team.
For the second time this weekend, Tytiana Wilson sets a new school record as her, Abbie Zander, Morgan Bailey and Lauren Tabor reset the @CN_Track record in the 4x400 relay pic.twitter.com/XxrrzRQ5vS
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) May 6, 2022
A day after breaking the school record in the event, Tytiana Wilson finished eighth in the 400-meter run with a time of 58.95 seconds. It is the freshman's ninth career top-10 finish in the event.
Moore finished sixth in the 100-meter run with a time of 10.65 seconds, his 18th career top-10 finish in the race.
Tia Davis had a busy day, competing in the finals of the 100 and 200-meter runs. The senior finished seventh in the 100-meter run with a time of 12.32 seconds, her fifth top-10 finish in the race this season.
In the 200-meter run, Davis finished fourth with a time of 25.58 seconds. Davis has finished inside the top-5 of the 200-meter run seven times between the 2022 indoor and outdoor seasons.
Boya also finished fourth in the 200-meter run, finishing the race with a new personal best time of 21.33 seconds, beating his old personal best by 0.34 seconds.
Courtavious Garrett just missed out on a medal in the triple jump, finishing fourth witn a new personal best jump of 14.57 meters. His teammate Camden Fritz recorded a new personal best in the event, beating his old personal best by 0.23 meters with a jump of 13.18 meters.
Ian Slayer finished eighth in the discus, earning a point for the Eagles with a toss of 42.45 meters, a new personal best.
Madison Dockery broke her personal best in the 5000-meter run, beating her old time by over eight seconds, finishing the race with a time of 19:34.47.
As a team, the Carson-Newman men finished fourth with 101.5 points while the women finished ninth with 45 points. Queens took home the men's championship while Lenoir-Rhyne won the women's championship.
"We had an amazing weekend," says Needs. "All of our coaches did a great job getting our kids ready to compete and be succesful and Kelly Brock keeps us all together on the training side. This was a tough meet with top talent and our guys pushed forward against guys they'll see again at the NCAA Championships. We also had a lot of kids go out and set personal bests, and then kids like Sydney McCarty and Nathalie Schumacher who were warriors all weekend and participated in multiple events to the best of their ability. Now we have a group that is focussing on getting to the national championships and doing well there."
The Eagles will wrap up the season at the Lee Last Chance Meet on Saturday, May 14. Fans can follow along with updates at cneagles.com.
