April 19, 2008

BANNER ELK, NC –The Mars Hill men turned the ultimate team performance into the team championship Saturday evening.  What started out as a tight competition slowly turned into a runaway as the men outdistanced nearest competitor Lenoir-Rhyne College by 95 points.  In many cases the men sacrificed individual honors and titles to add depth and scoring to the overall team standings.

Throws:  Richard Clarke (Lookout Mountain, GA) and Brad Nagel (King, NC) opened the meet with nearly identical throws in the hammer earning 2nd and 3rd place respectively.  For the two decathletes is the start to a long two days of competition with Richard entered in seven events and Brad in nine.  Richard also earned a 2nd place in the discus and 3rd in shot put.  Brad also finished 2nd in the javelin.  Also making a strong showing was Taylor Christopher (Hickory, NC) earning a 4th place in the javelin.

Sprints and Jumps:  Freshman Frankie Waters (Brevard, NC) finished his first Conference Championship meet in spectacular fashion earning three first place finishes.  Frankie crushed the 110 meter hurdle record with a time of 14.80 taking the overall meet title.  He followed that up with another 1st place in the 100 meter dash and a 1st place in the 200 meter run.  He also finished 4th in the high jump.  Benny Davis (Morganton, NC) running unattached shattered two more records on Saturday.  He turned a time of 49.47 in the 400 meter run and an unbelievable time of 21.68 in the 200 meter dash.  He finished in between the top three NAIA 200 meter runners in the nation.  In the pole vault Brad easily earned All Conference honors for the 2nd time in his career.  And in surprising fashion Justin Baker (Raleigh, NC) finished 2nd in the event.

Distance:  Entering the competition several of the distance men were in prime condition to bring home numerous individual honors but each sacrificed them in pursuit of the team title.  Starting off the competition on Friday evening was the 10,000 meter run.  Trey McCain (Lesville, SC) earned All-Conference honors with a time of 34:30.75.  Trey also ran strong in the 5,000 and 1500 meter runs on Saturday.  Senior Will Mikolajczak had an outstanding day earning All-Conference honors in both the 3000 meter steeplechase and the 400 meter hurdles.  His time in the hurdles of 58.78 established a new Mars Hill record.  Will also competed in the open 400 meter run and ran 1st leg in the 4 X 400 meter relay.  Aaron Thomas (Seminole, FL) earned All-Conference honors in both the 800 and 1500 meter runs and still ran strong in the 5000 meters.  Senior Dustin Whitlow (Ashburn, VA) provided the ultimate display of sacrifice for the team.  He earned All-Conference honors in the 5000 meters while helping teammates with their races in addition to competing in the 800 and 1500 meter runs.  The true ironman of the distance events had to go to Tom Carpenter (Medina, OH) who ran tough races in the 400, 800, 1500 and 4 X 400 meter relay often with little rest in between events.  Also turning in a great performance in the 5000 meter run was Ben Crenshaw (Linville Falls, NC) passing two Lenoir-Rhyne competitors with a strong finish.     

Team Scoring – South Atlantic Conference:

Mars Hill College                      270
Lenoir-Rhyne College              175
Carson-Newman College        135
Brevard College                       6
Tusculum College                     6

All-Conference Honors:

Trey McCain - 10,000 meters
Will Mikolajczak - 3000 meter steeplechase, 400 meter hurdles
Brad Nagel - pole vault
Aaron Thomas - 800 meters, 1500 meters
Frankie Waters - 110 meter hurdles, 100 meters, 200 meters
Dustin Whitlow - 5000 meters    

Complete results can be found at: http://www.bigkahunatiming.com/

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