The Lee University track & field teams combined for five Lee University records and three NCAA Division II provisional qualifying marks this past weekend during the Charlotte 49er Classic at the Irwin Belk Track & Field Center.
Lee records were set in the men’s 110-meter hurdles, men’s 400-meter hurdles, men’s javelin, men’s shot put and women’s 5000-meter run.
Three of the five records were set by the previous record holders.
Derek Flatford improved upon his record performance in the previous meet with a time of 15.16 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles. His previous mark was 15.46. Jeremiah McCain did the same in the 400-meter hurdles. McCain’s seventh-place time of 53.80 was 1.19 seconds faster than his record-setting time two weeks earlier.
Samuel Duarte launched the javelin 50.62 meters to finish 11th and add 0.61 meters to the top mark he recorded at the Victor Icebreaker Duals.
Gari Garmendia finished 24th in the shot put with a Lee record throw of 13.93 meters. The previous mark was 12.99 meters set by Christian Smith on April 9, 2016.
Chloe Flora was the top finisher in the women’s 5000-meter invite race with a time of 16:49.73. The time needed to provisionally qualify for nationals is 17:10.86. Flora also beat the Lee event record of 16:50.73 that was set by Audrey Smith at the Oxy Invite on May 12, 2018.
“The goal was for Chloe to go under 16:50. That’s what it took to get into nationals last year,” said Lee head coach Caleb Morgan. “She ran very relaxed and closed hard the last 800 meters and comfortably hit the time.”
Josiah Brooks, Siphosethu Boya and Justin Brooks each finished in the top 15 of the 100-meter dash. Josiah crossed the finish line in fourth at 10.60 seconds. Boya was 13th (10.80) and Justin finished 15th (10.85).
In the 200-meter dash, Justin Brooks finished third with a provisional-qualifying time of 21.30. Boya crossed the line at 22.19 for 19th.
Justin Brooks was the overall winner in the 400-meter dash. His time of 47.13 was 0.18 seconds better than second place and met the provisional qualifying mark. Boya was fifth in the event at 48.56, while Teagan Lenox was 36th (51.65).
Jared Herzog led a trio of Flames in the 800-meter run. He covered the distance in 1:58.02 to place 33rd. Andrew Hendry (2:02.46) and Moises Ponce (2:02.94) were 71st and 73rd, respectively.
The trio was joined by Ben Gilman in the 1500-meter run. Herzog was the first Lee runner across the finish line at 25th (4:01.21). Ponce finished 55th (4:09.01), Gilman was 57th (4:09.54) and Hendry placed 68th (4:11.27).
Christian Noble added another top-five finish with a fourth-place finish in the 5000-meter invite. He recorded a time of 14:46.62. Casey Guthery’s time of 15:01.41 put him in 15th. Caleb Eagleson finished 18th (15:05.72) and Ben Tabor was 25th (15:30.31).
Dawson Reed was the lone Lee runner in the 10000-meter run. He posted a time of 32:48.35 to finish seventh. Thomas Kelton placed fourth in the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:24.32.
Stacen Cunningham was 20th (15.27) in the 110 hurdles and finished 34th (57.74) in the 400 hurdles. McCain was 22nd (15.28) in the 110 hurdles, while Flatford was 31st (57.34) in the 400 hurdles.
Jonah Mayes tied for 10th in the high jump invite with a clearance of 1.88 meters. Evan Hansen was second in the high jump with a recorded height of 1.83 meters. Cayden Rechsteiner cleared 3.80 meters to finish 13th in the pole vault.
Flatford, Josiah Brooks and Mayes were Lee’s three participants in the long jump. Flatford jumped 7.05 meters to finish fourth. Brooks was 15th at 6.61 meters and Mayes covered 6.32 meters for 24th. Mayes also placed 13th in the triple jump with 13.35-meter combination.
Garmendia added an 18th-place finish in the hammer with a throw of 42.93 meters. He also finished 21st with a javelin throw of 45.02 meters.
“As a group our men had a lot of strong performances across the board,” said Morgan. “Flatford had a huge leap in the long jump and great run in the 110 hurdles, he continues his progression to full strength. McCain had a gutsy run in the 400 hurdles. Josiah continues to lower his time in the 100. Justin is running with a lot of confidence right now. This was by far the fastest 400 he has run this early in an outdoor season.”
Amy Carpenter and Logan Hernandez joined Flora in the 5000. Carpenter was ninth (17:44.65) and Hernandez placed 19th (18:31.90).
Charlee Boxall finished seventh in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:14.69 and was 14th (4:42.25) in the 1500-meter run.
“Charlee had to run solo into a tough wind out of the slow heat. Her speed and ability to change gears is becoming stronger each race,” added Morgan.
Lacey Duvall and Cate Gifford finished 32nd (2:23.26) and 42nd (2:26.09), respectively, in the 800. Gifford crossed the 1500 finish line at 4:50.73 (31st).
Kiley Brock and Kristen Blevins both competed in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. Brock was 19th (12.36) in the 100 and 30th (25.55) in the 200, while Blevins finished 20th (12.36) in the 100 and was 31st (25.58) in the 200.
Mikayla Beeler completed the 400-meter dash in 1:00.61 to place 43rd. Brooke Long stopped the clock at 16.94 to finish 37th in the 100-meter hurdles. Jordan Allison was eighth (1:04.65) and Hannah Buttolph was 25th (1:09.13) in the 400-meter hurdles.
Buttolph and Allison were Lee’s representatives in the high jump invite. Buttolph cleared 1.58 meters for ninth and Allison went over 1.53 meters for 12th. Long finished 13th in the high jump with a mark of 1.43 meters.
Kendra Irvine and Kaitlynn Kincer both cleared 2.90 meters in the pole vault where Irvine finished tied for seventh and Kincer was ninth.
Lee had three athletes in the long jump. Beeler’s jump of 5.01 meters put her in 31st. Long covered 4.80 meters to finish 39th and Avery Truelove finished 44th with a measurement of 4.54 meters. Truelove triple jumped 10.55 meters for 25th.
Faith Lewis competed in four throwing events. She was 13th in the shot put with a throw of 11.83 meters. She was 15th in the discus following a throw of 36.43 meters. Lewis slung the hammer 36.94 meters to place 32nd and her throw of 27.08 meters put her 23rd in the javelin.
“Our women had a good weekend with a lot of solid performances for early in the year. We are looking forward to warmer weather and a good block of training before our next competition,” Morgan concluded.
The Flames and Lady Flames return to action the weekend of March 29-30 when they will have a split-squad weekend with one group traveling to Raleigh, N.C., for the Raleigh Relays and the rest traveling to Atlanta for the Emory Classic.