GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University men's and women's indoor track and field teams will open the 2024-25 season on Saturday, December 7 at the Commonwealth College Opener in Louisville, Kentucky.

The South Atlantic Conference announced its preseason coaches polls on Thursday, with the Pioneer men picked fourth and the Tusculum women selected sixth among the 13 teams in the conference. The Tusculum men placed third and the women seventh at last year's SAC Championship meet.

SAC PREVIEW
The Pioneer men won four medals and had a program-best third-place finish at last year's SAC Championship, while the women had seven scoring performances on the final day of the meet and earned its best indoor finish since 2020.

Athletes to watch for the Pioneers are junior sprinter Isaiah Olson and junior thrower Adrian Gumm for the men, along with freshman sprinter Qitarah Castlin and freshman multi-event athlete Agustina Dittrich.

The Wingate men and women were each near-unanimous picks atop the conference rankings by the league's head coaches. Lenoir-Rhyne, Anderson, Tusculum were the next three on the men's side, while Lenoir-Rhyne, Carson-Newman and Catawba held spots two through four in the women's poll.

MEN'S PREVIEW
SPRINTS
The Pioneers brought in an impressive freshman class to supplement several top returning sprinters, led by Olson (Greeneville, Tenn.) who was named SAC Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year last spring after earning three medals at the conference championship meet.

Grad student Dorian Craven (Dallas, Texas) was USTFCCCA All-Region in the 400 meters and the 4x400 relay last season, and also set the school record in the 500 meters at 1:04.23 at the Commonwealth College Opener. Craven has been All-Region in the 4x400 both indoors and outdoors in each of his first two years at Tusculum.

Senior Stephen Brewer (Winston-Salem, N.C.) is a three-time USTFCCCA All-Region honoree in the indoor 4x400 relay, and had a seventh-place finish in the 400 meters at last year's SAC Championship. Senior Xay Bogus (Knoxville, Tenn.) was All-Region in the 4x400 relay in 2022 and was part of the winning 4x400 relay at the SAC Championship, along with a fifth-place finish in the distance medley relay.

Seniors Benit Kitapindu (Toowoomba, Australia) and Landen Locklear (Kingsport, Tenn.) return for the Pioneers along with sophomores Noah Girard (Enfield, Conn.) and Kayvon Pickett (High Point, N.C.), each having posted at least one top-15 finish during the 2024 indoor season.

Tusculum's freshman class includes John Ross (Mount Carmel, Tenn.), Jonathan Harris (Nassau, Bahamas), Mica Ruffin (Conyers, Ga.), Jaylen Scott (Jonesboro, Ga.), Joel Toe (Johnson City, Tenn.) and Dylan Dennis (Jonesboro, Ga.).

Among them, Ross was three-time All-Region and All-State at Volunteer High School, while Harris represented Bahamas internationally at two events. Ruffin ran on a state 4x400 championship relay at Rockdale County High School, and Scott was a Georgia state runner-up in the 100 meters for Mundy's Mill High School.

DISTANCE
The Pioneers' group of distance runners includes senior Ryan Drysch (Shorewood, Ill.), junior Jerry Ricker (Kingsport, Tenn.) and sophomore Simon Ray (Greeneville, Tenn.) along with freshmen Levi Carson (Hammond, La.) and Konnor Weaver (West Alexandria, Ohio).

JUMPS
Sophomore Lansford Cunningham (Montego Bay, Jamaica) placed eighth in the SAC Championship in the long jump with a mark of 6.81 meters, and had three other top-10 performance in the event during the indoor season.

Senior Joshua Stephens (Sanford, Fla.) was seventh in the triple jump and 11th in the long jump at the SAC Championship, with four top-five performances including three in the triple jump.

THROWS
Gumm (Maryville, Tenn.) finished second in the shot put at the SAC Championship and set a school record with a mark of 15.02 meters. He finished in the top 10 in the shot put in all six of his indoor meets last winter, including a win at the VMI Winter Relays with a throw of 14.89 meters.

Sophomore Dylan Horne (Ocoee, Fla.) placed sixth in the shot put at last year's SAC Championship, while junior Gavin Rowell (Melbourne, Fla.) had two top-10 finishes in the shot put. Sophomore Mason Allen (Cookeville, Tenn.) also returns after posting a season-best throw of 9.89 meters at the VMI Winter Relays.

Sophomore Michael McGrath (Boca Raton, Fla.) was 13th in the shot at the Appalachian Athletic Conference Championship last year while competing for Kentucky Christian. Senior Jaden Gary (Miramar, Fla.) joins the program after competing at Florida A&M for two seasons.

Also rostered for the Pioneers are freshmen Byron Blanchard (Clarksville, Tenn.) and Richard Burney (Chattanooga, Tenn.).

WOMEN'S PREVIEW
SPRINTS
Junior Theresa Green-White (Stafford, Texas) is coming off a decorated sophomore season in which she won the SAC Championship in the 60 hurdles with a school-record time of 8.67 seconds and was named Top Region Performer by the USTFCCCA. Green-White followed up by earning All-America honors in the 100 hurdles at the NCAA Outdoor Championship.

Junior Kiera Taylor (Kissimmee, Fla.) was fourth in the 200 meters and sixth in the 60 meters at the SAC Championship, and set the school record in the 300 meters of 42.39 seconds at the VMI Invitational.

Junior Jahzara Hart (Raleigh, N.C.) did not compete last season for the Pioneers but is coming off a decorated junior college career in which she was an NJCAA All-American in the 200 meters and a national qualifier in the 60 meters in 2023 for Indian Hills CC. Junior Shanice Cox (Minneapolis, Minn.) also competed at Indian Hills and was a 2024 All-American in the 200 meters, while qualifying in both the 60 meters and the 4x400 relay.

Sophomore Alonda Shelton (Greensboro, N.C.) was seventh in the 60 meters and 10th in the 200 meters at the SAC Championship as a freshman, and was the winner in the 60 meters at the Mondo College Invitational. Shelton set the school record in the 200 meters at the VMI Winter Relays at 25.18 seconds.

Sophomore A'jaylah Yates (Fayetteville, N.C.) took fourth in the 60 meters at the SAC Championship and had a first-place finish in the 60 at the VMI Winter Relays. Her preliminary time of 7.62 seconds at the VMI Invitational was a program record in the event.

Senior Jada Martin (St. Catherine, Jamaica) ran on the distance medley relay at the SAC Championship and was part of an eighth-place finish. She also was on a third-place 4x400 relay at the VMI Winter Relays.

Sophomore McKenzie Morton (Knoxville, Tenn.) competes in the javelin during the outdoor season, but has competed in both the 400 and 200 meters for the Pioneers with a 10th-place showing in the 400 at the SAC Outdoor Championship.

Joining the Pioneers are graduate student Eva Tolliver (Mascot, Tenn.) along with Castlin (Griffin, Ga.) and fellow freshman Kori Moore (Jonesboro, Ga.).

Tolliver competed three years at Wheeling, where she competed in multi-events and specialized in 400-meter events. Castlin was the high point champion in the region in two straight years while competing at Spalding High School, and has a PR in the 200 meters of 24.7 seconds. Moore was fifth in the 300 hurdles and eighth in the 100 hurdles at the Georgia 6A Championship as a senior.

DISTANCE
Junior Victoria Caliendo (Lake Villa, Ill.) is the lone returnee in distance for the Pioneers, after competing in the outdoor season and earning a best finish of 11th in the 1500 meters at the Sharona Coleman-Singleton Classic.

Newcomers for the Pioneers are grad students Tashianna Gray (Longview, Texas), Megan Humiston (Jacksonville, N.C.) and Alayna Suitte (Knightdale, N.C.) from the cross country team. Gray can run both sprints and middle distance, with a 14th-place finish for North Carolina A&T at the CAA Indoor Championship last winter. Humiston ran three years of indoor track at Wingate, while Suitte competed three years for Western Carolina in distances ranging from 400 meters to the mile.

Junior Adriel Austin (Georgetown, Guyana) competed at Hinds Community College last year and placed 13th at the NJCAA Championship in the 800 meters with a time of 2:22.70.

Freshman Sofia Cuesta Fuoss (Erkrath, Germany) ran for the Pioneer cross country team in the fall and finished 40th or better three times, including fifth at the Roane State Invitational with a 5K time of 22:13.

JUMPS
Dittrich (Cordoba, Argentina) was All-Province in the long jump seven times, three times in the long jump and twice in the javelin, and earned All-Country in the long jump five times in Argentina.

Sophomore Kieley Smith (Greeneville, Tenn.) placed 10th in the pentathlon at the SAC Championship as a freshman, and had a season high of 2,677 points at the VMI Winter Relays. Her season bests in the triple jump were 9.87 meters at the Commonwealth College Opener and 4.93 meters in the long jump at the VMI Invitational.

Sophomore Taliah Johnson (Greeneville, Tenn.) competed at Maryville College last season and had a season-best finish of 14th in the long jump at the Sewanee Invitational. The Chuckey-Doak High School graduate also competed in sprints, taking 12th in the 60 meters at the Emory Crossplex Showdown.

THROWS
Senior Amber Hogan (Piedmont, S.C.) was 11th in the weight throw at last year's SAC Championship, an event in which she holds the school record of 14.02 meters set in 2023. Freshman Tori Frakes (Roan Mountain, Tenn.) joins the roster this winter along with junior Danyell Booker (Fresno, Calif.), who will compete outdoors in the shot put after completing basketball season.

2024-25 SCHEDULE
After opening the season this weekend at the Commonwealth College Opener, the Pioneers will resume their slate with four consecutive weekends starting in mid-January. Tusculum will make its third straight trip to the Vanderbilt Invitational on January 17-18, followed by back-to-back weekends at VMI for the Invitational (January 24-25) and Winter Relays (January 31-February 1).

The Pioneers will close the regular season with the JDL Last Chance Invitational on Saturday, February 22 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, ahead of the SAC Championship March 1-2 in Winston-Salem. The NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championship is March 13-15 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

2024-25 SAC Men's Indoor Track & Field Preseason Poll

2024-25 SAC Women's Indoor Track & Field Preseason Poll