The Lee University track & field teams had nine members reach NCAA DII Provisional qualifying marks as the squads competed in their third of four scheduled regular season meets this past weekend at the Vanderbilt Invite. The two-day event was held at the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility on Friday and Saturday.
Cale Kassen and Cameron Stine met the 4,710 point qualifying standard in the heptathlon. Kassen won five of the seven events to finish first with 5,357 points. His point total also set the Lee record for the event.
Stine accumulated 4,824 points to finish third. Caleb Long placed sixth in the heptathlon with 4,361 points.
Jacob Hatcher completed the mile in 4:04.61 to finish fourth. His time was over five seconds under the qualifying time of 4:09.80. Aaron Himes, Ezekiel Harless, Ryan Lovelace and Matthew Fowler joined him in the mile. Himes finished 20th (4:13.12), Harless was 27th (4:15.52), Lovelace was 40th (4:21.61) and Fowler crossed in 42nd (4:22.20).
Eli Brooks once again went over the qualifying height of 4.76 meters in the pole vault. He placed third with a height of 4.93 meters but finished 0.02 meters shy of his season-best mark of 4.95 meters from last weekend’s UAB Vulcan Invitational.
Liezl Theron and Sydney White exceeded the 3,242 points needed to reach the provisional mark in the pentathlon. Theron accumulated 3,404 points for 10th place and White tallied 3,248 points for 16th.
McKenna Cavanaugh, Liza Kellerman and Lily Hare met the standard of 4:56.85 in the mile. Cavanaugh stopped the clock at 4:46.90 to finish second overall. Kellerman (4:51.14) placed 12th and Hare was 18th at 4:56.65. Joining them were Zoe Brickley and Danielle Horter. Brickley finished 21st (4:58.21), while Horter was 29th (5:00.61).
Those five Lady Flames were joined by Letlhogonolo Magoro in the 800-meter run. Hare was Lee’s top finisher at 2:16.05 to place 16th overall. Magoro finished 20th (2:18.15), Kellerman (2:18.75) was 23rd and Cavanaugh came in at 25th (2:19.08). Brickley (2:21.45) finished 29th and Horter was 43rd (2:27.66).
Ashlyn Iliff completed the 3000-meter run with a time of 10:09.23 to finish 24th. Katie Krueger and Phoebe Moran combined to give Lee two runners in the top 16 of the 5000-meter run. Krueger placed sixth with a time of 17:58.28 and Moran was 16th at 18:29.15.
Janay Ryan was the lone Lee runner in the 60-meter dash where she finished 49th with a time of 8.11 seconds. Ryan also finished 44th with a time of 26.32 seconds in the 200-meter dash. Hannah Wright completed the 200 meters in 26.49 seconds for 49th and Jakara Tobler (26.99) placed 56th. Tobler added a 32nd-place finish in the 400-meter dash after crossing the finish line at 59.41 seconds.
Wright placed 16th in the 60-meter hurdles after completing the race in 8.99 seconds. Lily Brown was 40th (10.15). The 4x400-meter relay team of Ryan, Wright, Magoro and Tobler combined for a 14th-place time of 4:00.02.
Carissa Hall garnered a pair of 17th-place finishes in the long jump and triple jump. Hall covered 5.54 meters in the long jump and hit 11.33 meters in the triple jump.
Samara Brinks posted a weight throw of 13.64 meters to finish 21st in the event. Olivia Davidson was 30th in the shot put with a mark of 10.21 meters.
Doniven Jackson and Luke Blanchard competed in the 60-meter dash. Jackson placed 12th with a time of 6.91 seconds and Blanchard was 33rd at 7.13 seconds. Jackson (21.95) added a seventh-place finish in the 200-meter dash. Eli Cobble (22.94) placed 40th and Blanchard (23.29) was 46th.
Niquaine Henry crossed the finish line of the 400-meter dash at 49.24 seconds for 17th place and Aiden Shaw was 27th with a time of 49.79. The 4x400-meter relay team of Henry, Cobble, Jackson and Titus Lagat combined for a ninth-place time of 3:18.05.
Lagat was Lee’s top finisher in the 800-meter dash. Lagat’s time of 1:54.44 put him 19th overall. Lovelace (1:55.05) was 22nd and Hatcher (1:55.25) finished 24th. In the 3000-meter run, Kenneth Bishop (8:50.00) and Tal Old (8:51.11) placed 47th and 48th, respectively.
Jon Fielding Stogner stopped the clock at 14:39.27 to claim third in the 5000-meter run. Stephen Clark (14:50.87) placed 11th and Caleb Guthery (14:57.89) was 14th.
Matthew Black posted an eighth-place finish in the weight throw invite with a toss of 17.73 meters. Braxton Philpott posted a mark of 13.78 meters to finish 13th in the weight throw. Ian Trill finished 15th in the shot put with a measurement of 11.37 meters.
The Flames and Lady Flames are scheduled to travel to Columbia, S.C. for the South Carolina Invite the weekend of February 2-3 for one more meet before competing in the GSC Indoor Track & Field Championships.