Eagles head to Bast-Cregger Invitational to open the indoor season
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.- Carson-Newman track and field is headed to Salem, Va. to compete in the two-day Bast-Cregger Invitational this Friday, Dec. 8.
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.- Carson-Newman track and field is headed to Salem, Va. to compete in the two-day Bast-Cregger Invitational this Friday, Dec. 8.
The Bast-Cregger Invitational is set to begin at 1:30 p.m. this Friday, Dec. 8 at the Kerr-Cregger Fieldhouse in Salem, Va. Roanoke College is hosting the event, and Carson-Newman track and field will open the season at a familiar location.
"We could've started up last weekend, and part of us thought we should, but in the middle of finals, we don't want to do that. Finals are over now, so we are going to go to the meet this weekend and kind of celebrate the end of the fall," head track and field coach David Needs said. "It's been a long fall of training, and now we are getting ready for the time to shine and the time to compete."
The Eagles opened last indoor season at the 2022 Bast-Cregger Invitational. C-N left the meet last year with first-place finishes and provisional qualifying times. On the women's side of the meet, Morgan Stanton placed first in the high jump with a clearance of 1.55 meters. The Eagles swept the podium in the women's long jump as Kadidja Sangare finished first with a 5.68-meter leap, a provisional qualifying mark for nationals. Sydney McCarty (5.54 meters) and Brooke Taylor (5.29 meters) finished second and third respectively. Sade De Sousa placed second in the women's 60-meter dash in 7.43 seconds to provisionally qualify for nationals as well. Janaya Davis-Gainer followed shortly behind finishing in third place in 7.82 seconds. Tytiana Wilson finished sixth in the event with a time of 7.92 seconds.
De Sousa and Sangare were both recently added to the 2023-24 SAC Indoor Athletes to Watch list. They were joined by Oluwafemi Richards and Dawson Jones from the men's team.
"Femi and Dawson are two of our more experienced returners. Dawson was a first-team All-American on the 4x1 last year, so even though he's a sophomore, he's kind of the old man of the group now. Femi is someone who came in and consistently gotten better. He's kind of reinvented himself, and he has a lot of character and a lot of integrity," Needs said. "Of course, Sade and Kadidja, along with a lot of others, we are really excited for. They've done well for us. What we are looking for now is how the compete."
The men also found success at last year's opening invitational. For the men, Richards placed second in the high jump with a clearance of 1.98 meters. Jones finished 10th in the 60-meter dash prelims with a time of 7.03 seconds. In the finals for the event, Tshenelo Lemao finished in fifth place for the Eagles with a time of 7.05 seconds.
"This first meet isn't necessarily an indication of where they are going to be in four weeks from now," Needs said. "What I really want to see is how they compete. When they wear the orange and blue, we want to see how they go out and compete and how they get after it."
Carson-Newman track and field is set to begin the indoor season this Friday, Dec. 8 at 1:30 p.m. at the Bast-Cregger Invitational. Stay up to date on cneagles.com.
