Four Eagles win events to conclude Bast-Cregger Invitational
December 7, 2019

Four Eagles win events to conclude Bast-Cregger Invitational

Feshman Christian Shouse (Jacksboro, Tenn.) finished in a tie for first place in the pole value at a mark of 3.84m to help close out his first-place finish in the men’s heptathlon as a quartet of Eagles won events during the final day of the Bast-Cregger Invitational.

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SALEM, Va. – Freshman Christian Shouse (Jacksboro, Tenn.) finished in a tie for first place in the pole value at a mark of 3.84m to help close out his first-place finish in the men's heptathlon during the final day of the Bast-Cregger Invitational.

Competing in his first-ever collegiate meet, Shouse was able to claim at least a share of first place in four of the seven events in the combined series that spanned over both days of the meet.

Shouse also finished third place in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.06 seconds and fourth in the 1000-meters at 3:09.21, respectively. He finished the multi event with 5007 points, ahead of the duo of Stefan Jungmichel (4942) and Niklas Klei (4757) from Queens. It is the fifth highest point total among all heptathlons in Division II this season and would provisionally qualify Shouse into the NCAA Indoor Track and Field National Championship.  

The points accumulated in his weekend performance serves as a new school record in the heptathlon.

"Christian is an outstanding athlete, but he's also somebody that is very determined to learn and get better," head coach David Needs said. "To be able to come out and break the school record and pop off a 5000-point performance, that's great. The great thing for him and for our coaching staff is we know what he needs to work on, too. That by no means is going to be his best performance."

Senior jumper Jahvad McDermott (Brooklyn, N.Y.) continued his winning ways from yesterday as well, claiming first place in the triple jump with a mark of 15.08m. The leap is his best indoor mark in the triple jump in his career, beating his previous indoor best of 14.88m during last year's South Atlantic Conference Championships. The new indoor personal best also serves as a provisional qualification mark for this year's national championship.

"What you see from Christian (Shouse) is the optimism of a freshman. What you see from Jahvad is that seasoned veteran that has been there and knows what it's going to take to be competitive on the national stage," Needs said.

Senior James Wilson (Fontana, Calif.) earned second behind McDermott with a 14.15m mark. In the long jump, McDermott earned second on the podium with a leap of 6.68m.

Thrower Austin Gramann (Jefferson City, Tenn.) also found success Saturday, placing second in the weight throw with a distance of 14.15m.

A host of women's athletes also found success in the second day of the meet. Sophomore Klara Naude (South Africa) earned first place in the 800 meters with a mark of 2.29.12 – a time that finished two seconds ahead of second place.

Coming off of her cross country season shortly before the start of the indoor season, distance coach Luke Greer was able to work with Naude to develop her abilities heading into the weekend.

"Luke (Greer) told her before the race, 'Just win the race, we'll worry about the time later. Just run a smart race strategy wise and just win the race,'" Needs said. "And that's what she did. She did so well."

Sophomore Abby Hegarty earned second in the 200 meters with a time of 27.01 while junior Abby Tomkosky (Dandridge, Tenn.) finished third in the triple jump with a mark of 10.26m.

A pair of freshmen also found the podium Saturday in Susan Nelson (Crossville, Tenn.) and Faith Nelms (St. Petersburg, Fla.). Nelson's leap of 4.97m in the long jump placed her third in the event while Nelms blazed by the competition in the 60-meter dash with an 8.00 second time in the finals to earn first place.

Nelms also competed in the 400 meters and in the 4x400 meter relay, earning a share of third place in the relay. With a total of five races run, the freshman showed off an impressive amount of endurance to continue a high level of performance.

A Florida native, her previous high school experience in a top program in the Tampa region has built her into an already explosive young athlete.

"She comes from a great system," Needs said. "I was excited to see Faith, in her first college track meet, get some experience."

Rounding out the women's performances is Holly Talbut-Smith (Crawley, England) with a second-place finish in the 400 meters with a time of 1:02.41. Freshman Angie Dela Cruz (Morristown, Tenn.) earned third in the one-mile run with a time of 6:11.32.

Working toward building consistency in the first meet of the weekend, Needs spoke to how all athletes that competed in Salem were able to build from last year's performances this soon in the new year. Already, Needs saw marked improvement from all of his athletes from last season to now and in his freshman athletes from high school.

"They have continued to take that next step to becoming the college athlete(s) that they can be," Needs said. "To me, while that may not show up on the results this first meet, it will show up later. It's just really nice."

C-N will now have over a month to rest and prepare for the ETSU Invitational scheduled for Jan. 10-11 in Johnson City, Tenn.

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