CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Trayzel Jureidini-Wyche and Joseph Oreva recorded a pair of event wins, while Sydney McCarty reset her personal best in the long jump six times at the Lee Last Chance Meet on Saturday, May 14.
"I'm very proud of our team," says Director of Track & Field and Cross Country David Needs. "We wanted to stay healthy and improve and many did that today. Our jumpers had an excellent meet, with Sydney hitting a provisional mark, Nathalie barely missing out on qualifying in the high jump and Joseph breaking the facility record."
Finishing in the top-five of the discus for the 14th straight meet, Jureidini-Wyche won the event championship at Lee with a toss of 50.90 meters. The senior was just one of three throwers to cross the 50-meter line, beating out Nathan Spitzley of Grand Valley State by 0.18 meters. Jureidini-Wyche has now won two straight event championships and three of the last four discus event titles he has competed in this season.
Oreva continued to dominate in the long jump, winning his second straight event championship with a jump of 7.50 meters. The sophomore was the lone jumper to reach 7.50 meters, beating Jeremiah Sims of Shorter by 0.16 meters. The mark is also a meet record, beating the mark of 7.41 meters set by Dashaun Morgan of Montevallo in 2021. It is Oreva's eighth career win in the event.
McCarty closed her freshman season with a bang, finishing third in the long jump. The Sevierville, Tenn. native entered the meet with a personal best distance of 5.62 meters and went on to jump past that mark in all six jumps today in Cleveland. McCarty finished with a jump of 5.85 meters, the second-longest in school history and is just 0.02 meters away from tying the school record held by Sam Gudger in 2018. That mark is also an NCAA provisional mark and is the 37th farthest jump in Division-II. McCarty has earned seven straight top-five finishes in the event and has finished no lower than seventh this season.
Nathalie Schumacher was one of seven athletes in the high jump to reset or tie the meet record in the event, finishing in a four-way tie for second in the event with a clearance of 1.67 meters. Schumacher has earned ten straight top-five finishes in the event, and was 0.01 meters from setting a provisional mark.
Matthew Blackmon demolished his personal best in the 110 meter hurdles, finishing sixth with a time of 14.40 seconds. The mark is a new personal best by 0.22 seconds. Blackmon's time is also an NCAA provisional mark and ties Carl Schmidt of CSU-Pueblo for the 37th fastest time in Division-II. It is the freshman's seventh straight top-five finish in the event, as he has finished no lower than fifth this season.
Shane Connell's winning streak in the high jump came to an end in Cleveland, but the Manchester, England native finished fifth with a clearance of 2.00 meters. Connell has never finished lower than fifth in the high jump in his career in Mossy Creek.
Siphosethu Boya finished ninth in the 200-meter run with a time of 21.44 seconds. Boya has earned five straight top-10 finishes in the event. Oreva also ran the 200-meter run, setting a new personal best with a time of 22.17 seconds, beating out his old PR by 0.20 seconds.
Boya, along with Makanakaishe Charamba, Devon Moore, PJ Lotharp, and Tshenelo Lemao all ran the 100-meter run, with four Eagles advancing to the semifinals. Charamba finished fourth in the prelims with a time of 10.50 seconds, while Boya finished fifth with a time of 10.55 seconds. Moore finished ninth in the prelims with a time of 10.75 seconds while Lotharp finished 12th, also running a time of 10.55 seconds. Lemao beat his personal best by 0.01 seconds, finishing the race with a time of 10.84 seconds.
Lotharp was the lone Eagle that elected to participate in the semifinals, qualifying for the final round with a time of 10.54 seconds. The Lenoir-Rhyne transfer finishes eighth overall after not running in the finals.
In the triple jump, Courtavious Garrett recorded his sixth straight top-10 finish in the event. Garrett finished seventh with a distance of 14.32 meters.
Morgan Bailey set a pair of personal bests in both the 100-meter and 200-meter runs. The Mt. Juliet, Tenn. native finished the 100-meter run with a time of 12.88 seconds, beating her old mark by 0.22 seconds. In the 200-meter run, Bailey's time of 26.48 seconds beats her old personal best by 0.31 seconds.
Jade Mattison set a new personal best in the long jump in her final event of the season, recording a mark of 4.64 meters, beating her old mark by 0.07 meters.
Katie Smock reset her personal best in the 10,000 meter run with a time of 39:39.75 and a tenth place finish. That mark is a whopping 1:10.39 better than her former PR mark. Smock has recorded three top-10 finishes in the event this season.
"After a great meet, now we wait until Tuesday to see who makes it to nationals," says Needs. "Regardless of who does and doesn't get in - we set a team record for qualifiers. I love to see how we have so many raise their level each time they compete."
A total of 15 provisional marks have been set by the Eagles in nine different events this season. The full list of qualifiers will be released from the NCAA on Tuesday, May 17. Fans can lock in to all of the Carson-Newman track & field action at cneagles.com.
