LYNCHBURG, Va. — Gardner-Webb freshman Marcus Abraham (Charlotte, N.C.) took home the program's first-ever Big South shot put title, and the Runnin' Bulldogs claimed two other Big South All-Conference nods Thursday to push their week's total to seven at the Big South Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
The Runnin' Bulldogs finished the week sixth in both the men's and women's standings, amassing 47 points on the men's side and 48.5 points in the women's competition. The men's team missed the top-five by 14 points, while the women's squad finished the week in a tie with Winthrop for sixth and four-and-one-half points shy of fifth place.
Abraham saved his best performance of the season for the final day of the championships, launching a monster throw of 16.59 meters in the shot put to set a new personal record by 40 centimeters and take home Gardner-Webb's first Big South shot put title in program history.
Jordan Smith (Chesterfield, Va.) placed third in the event to claim his second straight Big South all-Conference nod, posting a mark of 16.22 meters, as A.J. White (Hurricane, W.Va.) set a personal-record on back-to-back throws to finish the competition in fourth with a PR of 16.16 meters. Sarah Mitchell (Roswell, Ga.) earned her second Big South all-Conference nod of the week with a second-place performance in the women's shot put after posting a mark of 14.02 meters - seven centimeters shy of her personal-best.
Quenton Jones (Moore, S.C.) placed sixth in the triple jump with a personal record of 14.60 meters, beating his previous best by nearly one meter on his only scoring jump of the day. Seaver Wait (Candler, N.C.) finished eighth in the high jump with a mark of 1.81 meters.
Sydney Davis (Granite Falls, N.C.) put together a career performance in the women's 5,000-meter run, beating her previous personal-best by nearly 20 seconds to finish with a time of 19:56.00 - her first career mark under 20 minutes.
Ivy Harris (Bailey, N.C.) placed fifth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:03.17, as the men's 4x100-meter relay team of Jones, Joseph Martin (Broadway, Va.), Darien Evans-Hensley (Lexington, N.C.) and Jalin Lawson (Fort Gaines, Ga.) finished in 43.02 seconds to place sixth.
The men's 4x400-meter relay quartet of Jones, Caleb Silvey (Greenville, S.C.), Martin and Marcquel Woodard (Gainesville, Ga.) placed sixth with a time of 3:18.52 seconds, while the women's team of Harris, Jordan Davis (Atlanta, Ga.), Merideth Byl (Tucson, Ariz.) and Kayin Mujahid (Philadelphia, Pa.) finished sixth with a time of 3:55.67.
