Lions chosen ninth in SAC preseason poll

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – Queens has been picked to win the 2018 South Atlantic Conference Men's Outdoor Track & Field Championship, the League announced today.  The Royals picked up 10 first place votes and received 116 points from the League's head coaches.

Wingate placed second in the poll with one first place vote and 101 points.  Lenoir-Rhyne took the No. 3 spot with 92 points, while Carson-Newman came in fourth with 89 points. Coker rounded out the top five with 68 points.

Anderson landed at the No. 6 spot with 63 points and at No. 7 was Tusculum with 55 points.  Lincoln Memorial earned 47 points to come in at No. 8, while Mars Hill finished at No. 9 with 41 points.  Catawba picked up 30 points to rank No. 10 and Newberry rounded out the poll with 20 points.

The 2018 South Atlantic Conference Outdoor Track and Field season gets underway this weekend with many of the SAC institutions heading to the UNCC 49er Classic. The 2018 SAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships will take place on April 19-20 at the Irwin Belk Complex in Charlotte, N.C.

Below is a look at the top athletes from each member institution.  

Anderson

Sprints: Chris Burton – A 2017 First Team All-American, Burton was the 2017 SAC 100m and 200m champion and he placed fifth in the 200m at the 2017 NCAA DII Outdoor Championship.

Distance: Mason Hazel – Hazel was the 2017 SAC 5,000m and 10,000m Champion. He qualified for the 2018 NCAA DII Indoor Championship, placed 19^th in 5,000m.

Carson-Newman

Sprints: Devon Moore - Moore was a national qualifier during the indoor season for C-N in both the 60-meter and the 200-meter dash, collecting second-team All-America with an 11th-place finish. Moore garnered the league's freshman of the year award following its inaugural season after posting second-place finishes in the indoor championship. Moore had the best time in the nation among freshman sprinters in the 200 at 21.43 seconds.

Distance: Luke Greer - Greer broke two school records during the 2017-18 indoor season, with new bests in the 3000-meters and the 800-meter. Greer comes off one of the best cross country seasons in the nation in 2017 when he earned a trip to the D2 Cross Country National Championships.

Field: Tanner Stepp - The first National Champion in SAC Men's Track & Field history, and the first in C-N history in any sport during the Division II era went to the high jumper Stepp during the indoor season. Stepp cleared 2.17 meters on his third attempt, leaping from third-place to first. The senior jumper has gone to nationals every single semester at C-N, collecting All-America honors for the sixth time this year.

Coker
Distance: Brandon Mullins - One of Coker's most esteemed distance runners. Mullins owns the top times in Coker history in the 800m and the mile (1:56.38 & 4:32.86) both set in 2018. Mullins placed inside the top-five in the 800, with one victory in four of his last 800m races.

Sprints: Sage Lilly - An up-and-coming freshman runner, Lilly has made a mark for Coker in their sprints department. Took over Coker's top 200m time at the SAC Indoor Championships with a time of 22.39. Lilly also did the same thing in the 400m, crossing the line in 50.29, in second place.

Field: Kace Faulkner - Most recently, Faulkner set the indoor record at Coker in the weight throw (38' 0.25") and Shot Put (39' 4.50"), along with outdoor records in Discus (117' 11"), Shot Put (40' 11") and in the Hammer Throw (119' 6").

Lenoir-Rhyne

Sprints: P.J. Lotharp - Earned 2018 NCAA Division II All-American honors in the men's 60-meter dash in indoor track and field. The 2018 South Atlantic Conference Champion in indoor track and field in the men's 200-meter dash.

Lincoln Memorial

Sprints: Oluwatosin Balogun – Two-time defending conference champion in the men's 400m dash. Finished last season ranked as high as 10^th nationally. 2017 All-Southeast Region for outdoor track and field. Holds the school record in both the 200m and 400m dash.

Distance: Jorge Hernandez – Top returning distance runner from last year's team. Finished 14^th at the 2017 SAC Cross Country Championships, and scored in both the 3k and 5k indoor events this season.

Mars Hill

Field: Spencer Shade - All-Region and SAC Indoor Champion in the Pole Vault.

Distance: Noah Allison - All-Region in Cross Country

Newberry

Field: Kayshon Mitchell - Mitchell was the team's top individual scorer in the weight throw at the indoor conference meet, placing 4^th, and he was also the top freshman in the event.

Sprints: James Glenn - James had a dynamic season opener during the indoor season in the 60m and 200m dash, he's looking to capitalize on that momentum heading into outdoors.

Queens

Distance: Felix Wammetsberger - Took sixth place in the mile at Indoor NCAAs during the 2017-2018 season to earn First-Team All-American honors.

Field: Ricko Meckes – Finished in the top 10 in the long jump, shot put and pole vault at SAC Indoor Championships.

Tusculum

Sprints: Widchard Guervil - 2018 All-American in the Indoor 60 meter dash. The 2018 SAC Indoor Champion in the 60 meter finished fourth overall at the NCAA II National Indoor Championship… Posted a career-best time of 6.67 seconds in the 60-meter dash in the NCAA II National Championship preliminaries. Won the 60 meter dash at the Wake Forest Invitational.

Distance: Will Cronin - Won the 5,000m run at the Dunamis Super Meet (16:06.33) and was a member of the 8^th place team in the DMR at the 2018 SAC Indoor Championship.

Field: Jay Boyd -  Finished 4^th in the long jump at the 2018 SAC Indoor Championship… Also finished 8^th in the high jump at the 2018 SAC Indoor Championship… Finished 3^rd in the high jump at the Dunasmi Super Meet with a jump of 1.85m.

Wingate

Sprints: DeAngelo Jacobs - Jacobs was fifth (6.86) in the 2018 SAC indoor 60-meter dash. Jacobs' time was an NCAA Division II provisional qualifying mark.

Distance: Nepolian Patel - Patel ran a personal-best 8:27.31 on his way to winning the 3000 meters at the inaugural SAC indoor meet. He outdistanced the field by 10-plus seconds. Patel was named to the All-Southeast Region team in the same event. He is a previous NCAA Division II outdoor championships qualifier in the 1500 meters.

Field: Nate Patterson - Patterson finished seventh in the NCAA indoor men's triple jump to make first team All-American. He posted a 15.35 meter mark on his first and his third attempt, easily qualifying for the nine-person finals. Patterson won the SAC indoor triple jump with his leap of 14.89 meters. A three-time triple jump All-American, Patterson won the SAC outdoor triple jump event in 2017.

2018 Men's Outdoor Track and Field Preseason Poll