Moore paves way for new national best in the 60 at the Finn Pincus Invitational Finale
Junior sprinter Devon Moore (Baxley, Ga.) set the fastest time in Division II this season with a 6.69 to highlight the final day of competition for Carson-Newman at the Finn Pincus Invitational.
Finn Pincus Invitational Results (Link)
Liberty Kickoff Results (Link)
Lynchburg, Salem, Virginia – Junior sprinter Devon Moore (Baxley, Ga.) set the fastest time in Division II this season with a 6.69 to highlight the final day of competition for Carson-Newman at the Finn Pincus Invitational.
His road to getting his blazing fast speed was a weird one. Due to a timing mishap in his preliminary heat, Moore and teammate Toot Johnson (Rincon, Ga.) were automatically advanced to the semifinals of the sprint to avoid a competitive disadvantage out of their control. When Moore lined up for the semis, he took off and left his competition three steps behind by the 35-meter mark.
Moore has already eclipsed his fastest time in the 60 twice – the same amount of meets he's participated in thus far in the indoor season. His mark Saturday was a new facility record for the Cregger Center in Salem.
"I feel like it was a good day for me, I came out here and I executed and had fun," Moore said.
While he had already automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field National Championships after his race at the ETSU Invitational, the dual-sport athlete put a stamp of approval on an already top mark in the country.
"It's a blessing," he said. "I come out here every day and work hard and it's a blessing to book my ticket into nationals."
Moore also claimed victory in the 200-meter dash, earning the only sub-22 second mark in the field at 21.85.
Teammate Johnson finished right behind Moore with a time of 6.94 seconds to also qualify for the finals. Both Johnson and Moore opted to sit for the finals of the event as a coach's decision to run the 200.
A pair of female teammates in Abby Hegarty and Amanda Lowe also went toe-to-toe with each other in the lanes of the 60 and 200, with Hegarty earning a fifth place finish in the 200 finals with a time of 26.83. Lowe was able to beat her teammate in the 60 semis, running a 7.96 to Hegarty's 8.15. Both qualified for the finals, but did not start.
The sophomore Hegarty said that having her teammate alongside her served as more motivation to dig deep and keep going.
"Going into it, we were just having a lot of fun," Hegarty said. "We were excited to race each other for the first time which really helped ease the nerves."
Elsewhere in the event center, long jumper Theo Devillard (France) earned his first gold in a C-N uniform in his first competition since joining the team. The transfer student leaped to a mark of 6.83m, with teammate Cortavious Garrett (Greenwood, Fla.) right behind him in fourth with a distance of 6.75m.
In the women's portion of the event, senior Shelby Reynolds (Knoxville, Tenn.) placed fifth to lead the Eagles with a leap of 5.03m.
In the distance portion of the event, graduate student Conal McCambridge continued to impress, finishing in sixth with a time of 9:03.59 in the 3000 meters. The performance comes fresh off of a win in the 5000 meters Friday.
Sophomore Klara Naude (South Africa) continued the trend of finishing on the podium, earning bronze in the 800 meters with a time of 2:28.34.
Head coach David Needs felt that the execution and development of his team throughout the course of the weekend is something that should leave most of the roster with something to improve on while celebrating the successes each athlete had. Now officially at the midway point of the indoor season, Needs said he was "really pleased" with where his unit is in their development.
"They don't know how talented they can be yet, they don't know where their ceiling is," Needs said. "As a coach, we're not supposed to let them know where that ceiling is, we're supposed to try to push through it and we have some coaches that are really doing that."
Shouse racks up more points, finishes second at Liberty Kickoff
In the men's heptathlon, freshman Christian Shouse (Jacksboro, Tenn.) earned another 5000-plus point performance at the Liberty Kickoff after placing fourth in both the 60-meter hurdles and pole value.
He was the highest finishing collegiate athlete at the event, beating multiple Division I athletes in attendance.
In both of his heptathlons this year, Shouse has ranked inside the top-10 in overall points.
What's next
C-N is back in action next weekend for the Buccaneer Invitational in Johnson City, Tenn. hosted by ETSU. Live stats information, as well as daily recaps, can be found here on CNEagles.com
