MARYVILLE, Tenn.--- Absury men's and women's track & field competed in the Collegiate Conference of the South (CCS) Championships Wednesday and Thursday, the men placing second overall with a 123 score and the women finishing third with a 132 score.
Day One Highlights
- Caleb Cablish broke his own school record to become Asbury's first CCS conference champion, winning the Javelin event at 47.31m
- Mikayla Riccio had her best jump of the outdoor season to finish second in the high jump at 1.51m
- Kallee Cooper set a new school record of 1:02.54 in the 400 in her qualifying heat.
- Wes Preston was magnificent in the 10,000m run, taking almost a minute off of the Asbury school record. He ran 25 laps of the track in 32:50.9 for third place in the event.
- Dan Kersey and Jason Flaming finished second and fourth in the 3000m steeplechase at 10:23.85 for Kersey and 10:36.77 for Flaming.
- Emma Groff and Cosette Meloon claimed the same places as the men in the women's steeplechase event. Groff finished at 13:41.60 and Meloon at 15;03.92.
Day Two Highlights
- Bailey Gassmann started her challenging schedule of events by earning a gold medal in the 1500 m run. Ninety minutes later she won a second gold in the 800m run, and an hour after that she gutted it out for a second place silver medal in the 5000m run.
- Maggie Higdon ran great to earn silver in both the 100m and 400 m hurdle events. Her time of 1:10.5 in the longer race was a new Asbury record and a qualifier for the NCCAA national championship.
- Caleb Payne exploded out of the blocks in the 100m dash and running to victory, earning the title of the fastest man in the conference at 10.96.
- Brooke O'Carroll finished third in the 800m run and fifth in the 1500m race, with her time in the 1500 meeting the qualifying standard for nationals.
- Coleman Anderson and Luke Holton each ran new personal bests, finishing second and third in the men's 800.
- After running the over six miles in the 10k race on Wednesday evening, Ava Miller was back on the track Thursday for another three miles where she earned a national qualifying time in the 5000 meter race with a time of 20:19.9.
- Caroline Preston received a bronze medal in the triple jump and Emma Groff earned bronze in the pole vault.
- Caleb Cablish brought home a bronze in the discus.
- The highlight of the field events though came when team captain Brendan Funke pushed the 16lb shot put out to a distance of 14.09 meters to claim gold.
- In the 4x400 Kallee Cooper pushed the Asbury women out to the front with a great lead off leg. Caroline Preston ran her fastest lap ever to hold the lead and Adyson Mattingly was still leading by a step at the final handoff. Brooke O'Carroll, running her fourth race in two days, fought valiantly for silver. The Asbury quartet still came away with a new school record to go with their medal.
- In the men's 4x400 Drew Beedle ran well to have the team in fourth place after his opening leg. Coleman Anderson ran a great lap in 51.4 seconds to hand off to Luke Holton in third place. Holton ran one of his best times ever with a 50.3 and move the Eagles into second, but still trailed Bellhaven by over 10 meters as he handed the baton to freshman phenom Emmanuel Dut. Manny ran down his opponent on the backstretch and claimed victory at a 48.31 mark. '
- The final time of 3:23.72 eclipsed the Asbury school record of 3:23.8 that was set in 1977 by the quartet of Bucky Vinzant, Steve Richardson, Richard Scott, and Bill Ury.
"What a fun couple of days we had! We can say we have the fastest runner in the conference in Caleb Payne, the strongest athlete in the conference in Brendan Funke, the best female middle distance runner in the conference with Bailey Gassmann, and we were able to win the final event in an exciting race with a record time. We will have several individuals competing at NCCAA Nationals a couple weeks from now, but this CCS meet was a great finish for the team for this year."
Randy Crist | Head Track & Field Coach
TEAM RESULTS:
Men - 2nd Place
Women - 3rd Place
FULL INDIVIDUAL RESULTS:
Click here for results
The Asbury track and field team will now prepare for the NCCAA Track & Field Outdoor Championships held from Wed., May 7 to Fri., May 9 in Greenville, SC.
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