C-N travels across Old Dominion in weekend of track and field action
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After two short weeks to rest and recover, Carson-Newman track and field is back in action across the state of Virginia at the Finn Pincus Invitational and Liberty Kickoff.
Finn Pincus Meet Information (Live Stats)
Liberty Kickoff Information (Live Stats)
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After two short weeks to rest and recover, Carson-Newman track and field is back in action across the state of Virginia at the Finn Pincus Invitational and Liberty Kickoff.
For the majority of athletes competing this weekend, it will be a return to Salem, Va. for the fourth annual Finn Pincus Invitational at Roanoke College. C-N opened the indoor track and field season at the Cregger Center during the Bast-Cregger Invitational in December, with more athletes such as sprinters Devon Moore (Baxley, Ga.) and Toot Johnson (Rincon, Ga.) joining alongside their teammates with fall sports commitments done and dusted.
Freshman multi athlete Christian Shouse (Jacksboro, Tenn.) along with pole vaulters Amy Zadroga (Tolland, Conn.) and Abby Owens (Ocala, Fla.) will travel to Lynchburg, Va. to compete in the Liberty Kickoff. With the heptathlon not an option as an event to compete in at Finn Pincus, Shouse and the pair of pole vaulters will put their skills up against a variety of competition levels away from the rest of the Eagles.
A plethora of high-level Division II programs are slated to be in attendance in Salem, with St. Augustine's leading the way. South Atlantic Conference members Lincoln Memorial and Lenoir-Rhyne are also slated to be in attendance.
Being able to compete across the state of Virginia in multiple events in one weekend may have caused some headaches for head coach David Needs, but the chance afforded to each athlete to compete and gain strength as C-N enters the midpoint of the indoor season make it all worthwhile.
"Logistically the person who is pulling his hair out is probably the head coach, but, from an opportunity standpoint it's going to be wonderful for our student-athletes," Needs said.
The third meet of the indoor season comes just a month before the SAC Indoor Championship in Winston Salem, N.C. on Feb. 29-March 1. Each athlete has an individualized plan to fit their goals for the season with three focus areas arising: Locking in a national-qualifying mark, improving seeding and standing for the conference championships and securing a personal best each and every meet. The attention to detail on a case-by-case basis has seen the Eagles earn four SAC Athlete of the Week awards, with Moore recently claiming the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week honor after the ETSU Invitational on Jan. 10-11.
With coaches with former experience in their careers, many of which were right here at C-N, identifying where each athlete is in progression ahead of the Finn Pincus Invitational establishes a gameplan moving forward.
"If I didn't have such an exceptional staff, we couldn't do that," Needs said. "Because I have exceptional coaches who really have a vision for where they want their athletes to go is great, because I get to put it together in the big picture."
Athletes to watch out for include incoming transfer Theo Deillard (France) who will compete in the men's long jump Saturday. High jumper Danilo Cardoso (Brazil) will leap for another gold Friday while both Moore and Johnson will hope to make the finals yet again in the 60-meter dash.
For the women, high jumper Nathalie Schumacher (Germany) will try for her chance to win a second gold in as many events, while freshman sprinter Faith Nelms (St. Petersburg, Fla.) will look to keep chipping away in the women's 60 after just breaking the sub-eight second mark with a 7.99 time at the ETSU Invitational two weeks ago. Distance runner Rachel Strayer (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) will also compete in the 3000 meters, locking down a sub-11 minute time in her last outing.
Friday's list of events for C-N is relatively short, beginning at 4 p.m. with the women's high jump and concluding with the women's pole vault at approximately 5:30 p.m.
Day two of the weekend's festivities will begin at 10 a.m. with the men's 1000 and conclude at approximately 7:30 p.m. after the women's 4x400 meter relay.
Fans can stay in the know by checking back here at CNEagles.com. Follow along with live results for the Finn Pincus Invitational by clicking here. Liberty Kickoff live stats can be found here.
