WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. --- Tusculum University advanced five men and five women to finals during competition on day one of the South Atlantic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships at the JDL Fast Track on Saturday.

 

Through six of 17 events, Tusculum's men are sixth with 13 points, with Queens (72), Lenoir-Rhyne (51) and Wingate and Carson-Newman (35) in the top three. The Tusculum women are in eighth place with eight points. Queens (86), Lenoir-Rhyne (50) and Wingate (25) are the top three teams in the women's standings entering Sunday's competition.

 

All-American sprinter Widchard Guervil will run in the finals in the men's 60 meters and men's 200 meters on the second day of the championships on Sunday, while I'Keriah Day advanced in both the women's 200 meters and women's 400 meters. 

 

In events completed on Saturday, Luis Morris finished second in the men's pole vault and Will Cronin took fifth in the men's 5000 meters, while the Pioneer women received sixth-place finishes from Alissa Furches in the 5000 meters and Brianna Oats in the pentathlon. 

 

Competition will resume Sunday morning at 9:00 with field events, with track finals starting at 11:00 with the mile run and concluding with the 4x400-meter relay at 1:55.

 

Guervil, the defending SAC champion in the 60 meters, ran 6.89 in preliminaries to take fourth place earn one of eight spots in the finals. He also advanced in the 200 meters with a time of 22.29 seconds which was fourth overall in prelims. 

 

In the 400 meters, Althiery Leontes was fourth overall with a time of 51.11 seconds to earn a spot in Sunday's final. Kyler Hodges ran 4:29.88 in the mile to earn the ninth seed in the 10-runner finals, and Jamire Thompson set a school record in the 60 hurdles of 8.55 seconds to take sixth overall and move into the finals.

 

Morris was one of four vaulters to clear 4.10 meters, then followed with a height of 4.25 meters (13 feet, 11 1/4 inches) to join Daniel Nicholson of Lenoir-Rhyne and Gudmundur Danielsson of Queens in the final three. Nicholson, who would have won the gold on fewer misses if the three had finished tied, won it outright as he nailed his final vault at 4.40 meters (14 feet, 5 1/4 inches). Morris took the silver over Danielsson on fewer misses at 4.10 meters.

 

Cronin was timed in 15:09.07 in the 5000 finals, which broke his own school record by 10 seconds. Tusculum's distance medley relay quartet of T.J. Tupps, Jaydon Johnson, Isaac Hybarger and Hodges placed eighth in a time of 10:53.07 which broke the school record in the event by nearly 14 seconds. Evan Grooms also set a school record in the weight throw, posting a mark of 12.57 meters (41 feet, 3 inches) to surpass his old record of 12.37 meters en route to 17th place.

 

Day moved into the finals of the 200 meters as she placed fourth with a time of 26.00 seconds, and was one of three Pioneers to move into the 400-meter finals as she finished seventh in prelims at 1:00.85. Raygene Minus will be seeded second in the 400 finals after running 58.89 in preliminaries, along with Earthaiza Watkins who was fourth in 59.98 seconds. Nicole McMillen also qualified for Sunday's finals in the mile run, clocking 5:12.29 in prelims to place second overall.

 

Furches finished sixth overall in the 5000 meters with a season-best time of 18:38.52, and ran anchor leg on the distance medley relay team that included Yoland Boyce, Kesia Griffith and Karla Angulo and finished seventh overall at 13:26.21. That time was 1.78 seconds faster than the previous school record in the event, set at last year's SAC Championship.

 

Oats took sixth place in the pentathlon with 2,658 points, with her best event the 60 hurdles where she accumulated 737 points with a time of 9.87 seconds.

 

Hailey Cole finished 13th in the 60 meters, but set a new school record with a time of 8.074 seconds and was just quicker than Kaynashia Carter, who was 15th overall and also broke the previous 60 record with a time of 8.078 seconds. Yoland Boyce broke her own school record in the 800 meters, running 2:29.57 to surpass her previous mark by .90 seconds. 

 

60: 4. Widchard Guervil, 6.89 (advances); 12. Gibran Williams, 7.01; 14. Kedar Ashford, 7.02; 15. Gerard Hearst, 7.03.

60 hurdles: 6. Jamire Thompson, 8.55 (advances); 15. Luis Morris, 9.14.

200: 4. Widchard Guervil, 22.29 (advances); 13. Kedar Ashford, 22.89; 17. Gibran Williams, 23.09; 25. Malek Folston, 23.93.

400: 4. Althiery Leontes, 51.11 (advances); 22. Tyree Hilliard, 53.18; 28. Malek Folston, 54.00; 33. Jaydon Johnson, 55.40.

800: 16. Kyle Stanley, 2:03.57.

Mile: 9. Kyler Hodges, 4:29.88 (advances).

 

5000: 5. Will Cronin, 15:09.07; 20. Carson Walls, 16:31.74.

Distance Medley Relay: 8. Tusculum (Tupps, Johnson, Hybarger, Hodges), 10:53.07.

Pole Vault: 2. Luis Morris, 4.25m (13-11 1/4).

Weight throw: 17. Evan Grooms, 12.57m (41-3); 25. Joseph Schwarz, 10.31m (33-10).

Long jump: 31. Jamire Thompson, 5.65m (18-6 1/2); 33. Kedar Ashford, 5.55m (18-2 1/2).

 

TEAM (6 of 17 events): 1. Queens, 72; 2. Lenoir-Rhyne, 51; 3. Wingate 35; 3. Carson-Newman, 35; 5. Catawba, 14; 6. Tusculum, 13; 7. Newberry, 5; 8. Anderson, 4; 9. Lincoln Memorial, 3; 10. Mars Hill, 2.

 

60: 13. Hailey Cole, 8.08; 15. Kaynashia Carter, 8.08; 25. Deondra Thomas, 8.67.

60 hurdles: 15. Brianna Oats, 10.43.

200: 4. I'Keriah Day, 26.00 (advances); 9. Raygene Minus, 26.28; 12. Earthaiza Watkins, 26.39; 15. Hailey Cole, 26.71; 18. Kaynashia Carter, 26.83.

400: 2. Raygene Minus, 58.89 (advances); 4. Earthaiza Watkins, 59.98 (advances); 7. I'Keriah Day, 1:00.85 (advances); 11. Ke'Lah McMiller, 1:01.73; 14. Kesia Griffith, 1:02.02.

800: 13. Yoland Boyce, 2:29.57; 22. Karla Angulo, 2:35.58.

Mile: 2. Nicole McMillen, 5:12.29 (advances).

 

5000: 6. Alissa Furches, 18:38.52.

Distance medley relay: 7. Tusculum (Boyce, Griffith, Angulo, Furches), 13:26.21.

Long jump: 10. Destini Wilson, 5.19m (17-1/2); 11. Brianna Oats, 5.11m (16-9 1/4).

Weight throw: 21. Alyssa Farmer, 10.35m (33-11 1/2); 23. Dynah Dunn, 9.49m (31-1 3/4).

Pentathlon: 6. Brianna Oats, 2,658 points.

 

TEAM (6 of 17 events): 1. Queens, 86; 2. Lenoir-Rhyne, 50; 3. Wingate, 25; 4. Anderson, 20; 5. Carson-Newman, 18; 6. Catawba, 15; 7. Mars Hill, 9; 8. Tusculum, 8; 9. Newberry, 2.