The Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Teams each took home second place finishes at the SAC Outdoor Championships hosted by Anderson on Wednesday and Thursday. Lenoir-Rhyne’s Alexis Brown earned co-Track Athlete of the Meet and Freshman of the Meet honors.

Wingate took home team championships on both sides.

On the men’s side, the Bears garnered the most points in the Decathlon. Philip Stomne took the top spot with a score of 6376, while Oliver Thatcher finished second with a score of 6192.The Bears took home fifth place (Dion Enongene) and seventh place (Mike Karicher) to grab 24 points in the event. LR grabbed 14 points in the javelin and 200m. Orlando Descartes finished second with a throw of 54.83 and Josh Wise (fifth) and Stomne (seventh) gave the Bears 14 points. LR also nabbed 14 points in the 200m thanks to a second-place finish by Dario Matau and a third-place result for Trent Davis. Matau ran in 20.59s, while Davis blazed in 20.78s.

Clarence McGill led three runners who earned points for LR in the 400m hurdles with a time of 53.20 to finish in second place. Jacob Wadsworth finished seventh in 56.50 and Marcus Crumpler finished eighth, crossing the line in 59.16. In the 400m dash, Lucas Besong finished fourth in 47.93, while Wadsworth and Crumpler finished sixth and seventh respectively. The Bears earned a combined 21 points in the 400m dash and hurdles events.

In the pole vault, LR had 13.5 points with a second-place finish from Karicher and fifth-place finish from Stomne. Noah Rhodes grabbed two points with a seventh-place finish.

The men’s 4x400m relay team finished in third place with a time of 3:16.82 and Ellis Horton got LR six points with his third-place finish in the discus throw with a toss of 46.09m. Wadsworth earned six points with a third-place finish in the long jump at 7.35m.

Matau grabbed six more points with a third-place finish in the 100m dash with a time of 10.43 and Davis finished sixth with a time of 10.47.

On the women’s side, Brown led LR with a first-place finish in the 100m dash with a time of 11.38 seconds. Brown also earned 10 points with a first-place finish in the 200m dash with a time of 23.44 seconds. Lastly, Brown anchored the 4×100 meter relay team that finished first with a time of 45.84 seconds. Brown teamed with Holly Kone, Melody Jones and Molly McGrath to grab 10 more points.

Kone had a strong performance as well with a gold medal in the triple jump with a result of 12.09m. She also finished seventh in the 400m dash.

LR grabbed 15 points in the pole vault with Pearl Ballard finishing second and Lacy Triplett coming in fifth, while Melena Howell took home sixth-place honors. Triplett earned a spot on the podium with a bronze in the javeling thanks to her throw of 36.96m. However, the most points were scored in the heptathlon with Kennedy Conner grabbing the gold with a score of 4480. Miranda Marr finished second and Abigail Kinoshita took fourth while Sofia Ulanday was seventh to give LR 25 points total. Conner added 4.5 more points with her fourth-place finish in the high jump.

On top of her finish in the 4x100m relay, Jones finished fourth in the 100m dash with a time of 12.12 and grabbed a gold in the 100m hurdles with a blazing time of 13.68. She added a fourth-place finish in the long jump.

Elizabeth Kessler took fourth in the 3000m steeplechase and Paige Ewald finished fifth in the 5000m run and sixth in the 10000m run.

WOMEN’S TEAM SCORES
1) Wingate – 201.5
2) Lenoir-Rhyne – 152
3) Catawba – 135
4) Carson-Newman – 74.5
5) Limestone – 63
6) Newberry – 51
7) Anderson – 48.5
8) LMU – 27
9) Tusculum – 26
10) Coker – 19
11) Mars Hill – 15.5
12) Emory & Henry – 2

MEN’S TEAM SCORES
1) Wingate – 221
2) Lenoir-Rhyne – 133.5
3) Limestone – 110
4) Carson-Newman – 99
5) Catawba – 65
6) Tusculum – 57
7) Anderson – 50.5
8) Newberry – 43
9) Emory & Henry – 20
10) Mars Hill – 9
10) LMU- 9
12) Coker – 1