ANDERSON, S.C. – The Anderson University track and field teams are slated to compete in the South Atlantic Conference Indoor Championships, Monday at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Heading into the men's championship, the Wingate Bulldogs are the lone team ranked in the latest U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national poll. The Bulldogs are ranked No. 21.
Regionally, nine men's teams are ranked in the top 20 in the region. Queens leads the way at the No. 1 spot, coming in at No. 4 is Wingate, Carson-Newman checked in at the No. 5 spot and Lenoir-Rhyne is ranked No. 6. Coker is ranked No. 11, Anderson is No. 13, Tusculum comes in at No. 15, Catawba is ranked No. 16 and Lincoln Memorial rounds out the SAC teams at the No. 18 spot.
On the women side, there are nine regionally ranked teams, as well. Queens is the top SAC school in the No. 2 spot, with Wingate at No. 3 and Lenoir-Rhyne at No. 5. Anderson, Coker and Carson-Newman are ranked eighth, ninth and tenth, respectively. Rounding out the regionally ranked SAC teams are Lincoln Memorial at No. 16, Catawba at No. 17 and Tusculum at No. 18.
The Trojans are no strangers to the JDL Fast Track, as the Black and Gold competed at the JDL Kickoff Classic in early December and at the Wake Forest Invitational in January.
Most recently, senior standout Mason Hazel ran in the men's 3,000 meter at the Camel City Invitational in Winston-Salem. The Summerville, S.C., native's time of 8:28.13 is the eighth-fastest in the Southeast Region this season. He posted the region's fastest time – an NCAA Division II provisional qualifying time of 14:18.98 - in the 5,000 meters at Grand Valley State's Holiday Open in early December.
The freshman tandem of Ben Clark (15:28.59) and Joey Teachout (15:42.45) posted the 15th and 23rd fastest times in the region in the 5,000 meters, with senior Christopher Burton capturing the 18th fastest time in the 200 meters (22.30) and the 22nd fastest time (7.07) in the 60 meter dash.
Freshman Cameron Owens-Hunter notched the region's 22nd fastest time in the mile run when he crossed the finish line in a time of 4:28.76 at the JDL Kickoff Classic and classmate Weston Hutto posted the 23rd fastest time in the 3,000 meters (8:55.14) at the same event. AU's distance medley team of freshman Riley Dixon, sophomore Jordan Anderson, freshman Matthew Burgess and freshman Phillip Quillen claimed 10th place in a time of 10:57.90 en route to the eighth-fastest time in the region.
Another freshman, Connor Wheatley, recorded the 38th best toss in the region in the weight throw with a distance of 11.91 meters at December's JDL Kickoff Classic.
The Trojan women, who are ranked eighth in the latest USTFCCCA Southeast Region rankings, posted 15 top-25 performances in the Southeast Region during the season, with senior standout Haylee Love garnering the fourth-fastest time in the mile run (5:04.87) while competing at the Grand Valley State Holiday Open in December. Freshman Olivia Evans garnered the 10th-best time in the region in the mile run (5:17.26) at East Tennessee State's Buccaneer Invitational, while junior Abigail Bozarth turned in the 23rd-fastest time (5:28.76) in the region at the Buccaneer Invitational.
Evans captured first place in the 3,000 meter run at ETSU and second place at last weekend's Dunamis Super Meet Atlanta 2018, with her time of 10:18.51 in Atlanta placing her sixth in the region. Fellow freshman Hannah Beach (11:03.11) notched the 18th-fastest time in the 3,000 meters, with junior Maddie Buddenberg (11:05.13) posting the 20th-best time.
Evans earned SAC Track Athlete of the Week after posting the fourth-fastest time (17:54.64) in the region in the 5,000 meter run at ETSU, while junior Allyson Malone posted the fifth-fastest time (18:05.09) at Grand Valley State. Beach (19:17.59) and senior Hannah Sanford (19:27.25) garnered the 17th and 19th-fastest times in the southeast at the Buccaneer Invitational.
Sophomore Morgan Bridges (2:22.42) and junior Emily Pitts (2:23.98) captured the sixth-fastest and 14th-best times, respectively in the region in the 800 meter run at ETSU, with junior Jolyn Copeland claiming the fourth-best distance in the region in the weight throw with a distance of 14.98 meters at the Buccaneer Invitational.
The distance medley squad consisting of freshman Olivia Rish, junior Madison Seay, Pitts and Bridges earned the fourth-best time (12:58.86) by finishing third at ETSU, with the 4x400 relay team (Barmore, Edwards, Pitts and Seay) posting the ninth-fastest time in the southeast (4:10.65) on the JDL Fast Track.
The SAC Indoor Championships are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Admission is free.
