Teammate Erin Hines won the heptathlon long jump with a leap of 5.61 meters Friday. After winning the high jump and shot put on Thursday, she added wins in the javelin (33.34 meters) and 800 meters (2:26.60) Friday to cruise to the win. Samford's Selena Popp won the heptathlon, accumulating 5,129 points to improve upon her 2016 runner-up showing. Samford freshman Presley Weems won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:10.09, more than two seconds clear of runner-up Kaitlyn Lingard of Western Carolina (2:12.84). Samford's Tonia McKinley earned the title in the women's 100-meter dash, running to a time of 11.77 seconds to edge WCU's Jazmine Gooden and VMI's Kerisha Goode, who both posted marks of 11.79 seconds. She and Furman's Gabrielle Jennings were neck-and-neck heading into the final lap, but Nelson made her move with 200 meters left and easily pulled away to defend her 2016 title in the event. Samford's Karisa Nelson, the reigning indoor national champion in the mile, won the 1,500 meters to extend the Bulldogs' team lead. There was little drama in the women's team race, as Samford brought a 45-point lead into the day and was never seriously threatened. Samford picked up three points in the next event, the 5,000 meters, to set the stage for the dramatic finish.Īlmost every women's event Friday was won by either Samford or Western Carolina, which each won four women's events on the final day of competition. Lamont won his second event of the day in 21.49 seconds and teammate Devaniel Dale finished second, putting the Catamounts up 178.5-156.5 over Samford. With Samford and Western Carolina all square at 156.5 points apiece after the 400-meter hurdles, the 200-meter dash offered some separation, as the Catamounts claimed the top two spots. WCU's Keion Crossen won in 10.39 seconds, followed closely by the Bulldogs' Emmanuel Tait in 10.40. Western Carolina and Samford posted a 1-2 finish in the men's 100-meter dash as the teams remained separated by just a point, with the Catamounts on top.
After Furman's Troy Reeder turned in a time of 3:46.46 to defend his 1,500-meter title and edge runner-up Arsene Guillorel of Samford, The Citadel's Malik Diggs won the 110-meter hurdles, turning in a time of 14.27 seconds to edge Western Carolina's Devyn Jones (14.36). The Catamounts, as the six-time defending champions in the event, made it seven in a row, running to a time of 3:13.36 to secure the six-point win and their second straight team title.ĭay-one leader Samford got off to a good start Friday, winning the men's 4x100m relay in 40.79 seconds.
Samford's Hunter Schlatter finished third in the decathlon and Andrew Patterson sixth to make it 180.5-179.5 in Western Carolina's favor entering the decisive relay. Wofford's Conrad Heinrich won the decathlon 1,500 meters but runner-up Samford's Jay Vines claimed the overall event with 6,008 points, making it a one-point team margin entering the final relay. That left the fate of the men's title up to the decathlon, which needed to complete the 1,500 meters to go final, and the men's 4x400-meter relay, and after a delay of nearly 80 minutes, the teams returned to the track to decide the 2017 champion. The Catamounts were nursing a 19-point lead with two events left to be decided, but the inclement weather that had been predicted to hit the area finally did just as the final women's events concluded, shortly after 1 p.m. Furman claimed three wins Friday, sweeping the three longest distances, while The Citadel picked up two victories, taking both hurdles events. Western Carolina won four events on the day, while Samford claimed two. On the men's side, Western Carolina made up a 20-point first-day team deficit early Friday and then waged a tight battle with Samford for the title. Samford's Abbie Cutcliffe earned the Pinnacle Award as the student-athlete with the highest GPA on the winning squad.
The title wasn't decided until the final event of the day, the 4x400-relay competition. Samford's men's team finished as runner-up in the competition and nearly upended defending-champion Western Carolina, 190.5-184.5. The Bulldogs' outdoor championship proved to be their second as members of the SoCon. The Samford University women's track and field team earned the Southern Conference Outdoor championship title Friday as the Bulldogs cruised to a 51-point victory over the second-place Western Carolina Catamounts in a decisive triumph held at the Samford Track and Soccer Stadium.
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