February 5, 2016

Mills, Davis lead Eagles in day one of Buccaneer Invitational

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.— A pair of River City athletes in Tianna Mills (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and T.J. Davis (Chattanooga, Tenn.) become the latest Eagles to provisionally qualify for the indoor nationals as the Carson-Newman indoor track and field team wrapped up day one of events at the second annual Buccaneer Invitational.

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.— A pair of River City athletes in Tiana Mills (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and T.J. Davis (Chattanooga, Tenn.) become the latest Eagles to provisionally qualify for the indoor nationals as the Carson-Newman indoor track and field team wrapped up day one of events at the second annual Buccaneer Invitational.

Mills, who competed in just her third meet of the season, qualified for the indoor nationals in the triple jump event following a leap of 11.86m. The mark was good enough for a sixth-place overall finish and moved the junior into to No. 10 in Division II in the event.

"For Tiana to move into the top-10 in the country in the triple jump today is huge," coach David Needs said. "She had a really good day and we feel good about her performance going forward."

Davis, who has already provisionally qualified for the indoor nationals in the long jump, accomplished the feat once again on Friday. This time around, the junior provisionally qualifies in the triple jump event following a jump of 14.32m, which was good enough for 15^th overall on the day.

Lachlan Dickie (Knoxville, Tenn.) joined the duo in making the headlines on Friday. Dickie's fifth-place showing time of 15:18.88 in the men's 5000 run is not only a personal-best, but it also established a Carson-Newman record in the event as well.

"To finish in the top-five in a meet like this is impressive because you have a bunch of really good Division II schools you are going up against and you also have a lot of talented Division I teams as well," Needs said. "It's a great indicator to show where you stand.

Others who capped off impressive showings on Friday included Randall Freeman (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and Kevin Snead (Richmond, Va.).

Freeman, who is competing in the men's heptathlon on the weekend, took part in the first-four events of the contest on Friday. The senior won both the 60m dash (7.26 seconds) and the shot put (14.33m) events and came in fifth and seventh-place in the remaining two, the long and high jump.

The 60m hurdles, 1000m run and pole vaulting events await Freeman on Saturday to complete the challenge.

"Freeman is in the mix with the top-contenders in the heptathlon and we will certainly be intrigued to see how he finishes," Needs said.

C-N's current record holder in the 60m dash, Snead, competed in both the event's preliminary and semifinal rounds Friday afternoon. In his first race, Snead completed the event in 6.85 seconds for a third-place showing.

Snead then matched his season-best time of 6.77 seconds in the semifinals round and will compete in the finals segment on Saturday.

"Is a great start. We excelled today in some areas and certain kids will have a chance to prove themselves tomorrow," Needs said. "We can't be satisfied and we always need to be pushing ourselves to get better and positive results. Almost all the South Atlantic Conference schools were represented, so if there is a week to find out where you stand in the conference it's this one. We will see what tomorrow holds."

To keep up with all of Saturday's action, follow the live results here, or follow us on twitter at @CN_Track. A complete recap of the entire second annual Buccaneer Invitational will be available following Saturday's events at cneagles.com.

Carson-Newman Women

60m Hurdles

25) Samantha Gudger 9.51

57) Erika Zackery 10.96

400m Dash

55) Madison Pickel 61.43

75) Aiyana Martino 63.15

60m Dash

88) Cassie Smith 8.41

95) Jessica Capron 8.50

114) Bre Lockett 8.86

200m Dash