Six Eagles enter George Mason Last Chance Meet hoping to qualify for indoor championships
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.—Carson-Newman will send six athletes to the George Mason Last Chance Meet Sunday afternoon in the nation’s capital with the hopes of improving their national rankings in the last week of competition before the 2017 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships kickoff on the weekend of March 2-5 in Birmingham, Ala.
VIDEO: Tyler Stepp Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.—Carson-Newman will send six athletes to the George Mason Last Chance Meet Sunday afternoon in the nation's capital with the hopes of improving their national rankings in the last week of competition before the 2017 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships kickoff on the weekend of March 2-5 in Birmingham, Ala.
"I think the important thing for our athletes this weekend is to not be focused on recording that certain mark or time, but rather focus on execution and the things you have being trying to do all season long," assistant track coach Tyler Stepp said. "I think our kids are ready to do that and I think they understand this process."
The Eagles who will be making the voyage to the District of Columbia are sprinter Kevin Snead (Richmond, Va.), high jumpers Tanner Stepp (Jefferson City, Tenn.) and Christian Stumpf (Johnson City, Tenn.), and long jumpers T.J. Davis (Chattanooga, Tenn.), Kristofer Potts-Howard (Tullahoma, Tenn.) and Tiana Mils (Chattanooga, Tenn.).
Snead and Stepp are virtual locks for the postseason play as the duo currently sit fifth and seventh in their respected events. The sprinter, Snead, competes in the men's 60 meter dash and has a fastest-time of 6.75 seconds on the year at the Tiger Paw Invitational on Feb. 17. Stepp leaped a season-best 2.11 meters at the Buccaneer Invitational on Feb. 2 in the men's high jump to crack his provisional qualification.
"This time of the year is when our athletes will feel about the way they will feel of they are going to nationals. Tanner [Stepp] and Kevin [Snead] need to use this platform to produce another high-quality performance," Stepp said. "We aren't really focused on a certain time or mark for them, because they have already met that standard, but we are focused on execution that would lead to that mark in order to be sharp."
Other Eagles with a good chance to crack into the nation's top-16, which is the cutoff point for the national stage, are Stumpf, Mills, Davis and Potts-Howard.
Stumpf notched a provisional qualification after recording a 2.07 meter leap in the high jump at the East Tennessee State University Track & Field Invitational on Jan. 13. The sophomore seeks his first trip to the national stage, but will need a good showing on the weekend as the Johnson City, Tenn. native currently sits in 20th-place in the event.
C-N's only woman competing on the weekend will be Mills in both the long and triple jumps. The senior has a season-best leap of 11.54 meters in the triple and 5.70 meters in the long jump, but also needs to have a stellar weekend as the All-Region performer is ranked in latter half of the top-50 in each.
The Eagles will send two more men long jumpers into competition on the weekend as Davis and Potts-Howard look to improve on their rankings heading into the championships.
Davis is currently just outside the cutoff as the senior sits at 19th in the nation following an indoor career-best of 7.24 meters at the ETSU Invitational on Jan. 13. The senior is looking for his first-ever trip to the national stage. Potts-Howard's longest leap of the year was 7.06 meters at the Buccaneer Invitational on Feb. 2, but the sophomore is currently on the outside looking in with a ranking outside the top-50.
"A couple of our guys really don't have anything to lose going in to Sunday because they are currently out as it stands right now," Stepp said. "I think these guys can go into competition and not hold anything back. That's a good problem to have because they can be as aggressive as they want to be. A lot of times that can lead to a qualification, but as long as they compete hard and take the steps to improve, that is all we can ask for."
A complete recap following Sunday's competition will be available at cneagles.com and the field for the 2017 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships will be released in the days that follow.
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