Eagles exuberant through final day of league championships
April 20, 2018

Eagles exuberant through final day of league championships

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Carson-Newman Track & Field closed out the 2018 South Atlantic Conference Outdoor Championships with a total of six conference champions after adding three on the final day of the meet.

Video: Tori Gaul interview

Video: Caleb Agee Interview

Video: Kieran Showler-Davis Interview

Final Results

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Carson-Newman Track & Field closed out the 2018 South Atlantic Conference Outdoor Championships with a total of six conference champions after adding three on the final day of the meet. The Eagles had just two first-place finishers following the indoor league championships two months ago. 

Caleb Agee earned gold in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 53.78 topping two runners from Queens who would go on to win their fourth-consecutive conference title. The time is a new college-best for the sophomore.

"I didn't feel like I was going that fast and it kind of blew my mind," Agee stated. "I'm just really blessed, it wasn't perfect but I'm just extremely grateful to God, the team, my coaches and my family to be at this point. I still think I have a lot to work on the next few weeks and go from there."

Bekah White earned the Elite 20 award following the conference championships which is given to the student-athlete with the highest grade point average. White earned a 4.0 in Exercise Science. The junior out of Knoxville, Tenn. competed in the 10K meter run turning in a 13th-place finish at 45:04.42, as well as the 5K meter run in 19:15.67 for 11th-place.

Kieran Showler-Davis posted the top spot in the 100-meter dash for Carson-Newman after falling just short of the top-three in the 60-yard dash during the indoor season. The time came across for the senior at 10.19 seconds unofficially, and if it stands, would be a new school record & conference record. The mark is also a personal-best for the native of Winchester, England and puts him third in the nation.

P.J. Lotharp of Lenoir-Rhyne came in second with a time of 10.38, eventually being named track athlete of the year by the conference.

"It was good to see other people on the team do really well. I think that motivated everyone," Showler-Davis said. "I was a little bit nervous going into today because I really wanted that title. Definitely felt good having some redemption after the indoor championships. I'm always more suited to the 100-meter race it just seemed to all come together today."

Tanner Stepp claimed the top mark in the high jump taking home the title at 2.11 meters. The senior National Champion has never jumped below 2.09 meters in his four years of competition in the outdoor league championships. The height of 2.11 currently puts Stepp fourth in the nation.

Jahvad McDermott rounded out the top-three for C-N receiving the bronze medal in the high jump after clearing 1.95 meters.

Zac Talley, who returned to the event after having surgery on a torn ACL exactly 365 days prior, collected points in the event for C-N after a seventh-place finish with a jump of 1.70 meters.

"It was great to continue the streak of jumping well in the outdoor championships," Stepp mentioned. "I'm happy to be able to come away with the win and continue to improve for nationals next month."

Trayzel Jureidini-Wyche set a new personal best in the discus with a throw of 46.52 meters that took home the silver medal to claim eight points for the Eagles. The finish gives the freshman his first all-conference honor.

Tia Davis and Cierra Henderson both collected all-conference honors for C-N in the 100-meter dash. Henderson collected fifth-place with a time of 12.40 seconds, followed by Davis in seventh at 12.43 seconds.            

Austin Gramann and Logan Pender put in top-six marks for C-N in the shot put. Gramann held the No. 5 position with distance of 13.67 meters edging his teammate Pender at 13.65 to earn a total of 7 points for the Eagles in the event.

Samantha Gudger checked in for a fourth-place finish in the high jump with a mark of 1.52 meters, a day after winning the long jump.  Teammate Shelby Reynolds tied for sixth in the event clearing a height of 1.47 meters.

Priscah Jemeli, who just started running the 400 meter last week, earned points for C-N in the event at the conference meet after running the sixth-best time at 1:00.24 which gave her an all-conference honor.

"It was a great day for us especially having kids stepping up as we battled injuries and they were willing to get after it," Coach David Need stated. "I'm so proud of our throwers, and there were people not on the podium that were awesome for us. To have four of our seniors go out running hard was awesome. It's just the willingness of our athletes to go out there with no complaints and enjoy everything while continuing to perform was special."

The C-N men's team collected a fourth-place finish at the league Championships coming away with 81 points. The women's team sat in fifth with 49 points, moving up from a sixth-place finish following the indoor championships.

-CN-

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