Bulldogs shine at Samford Multi
Jan. 20-21
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford University track and field program competed in the Samford Stand Alone Multi on Jan. 20-21, at the Birmingham CrossPlex and gave the pentathletes and heptathletes a chance to go up against outside competition for the first time during the 2016 season.
Jordan Highsmith led the Samford women in the pentathlon with an overall sixth-place finish among competitors from teams such as UAB, South Alabama, Troy, Kennesaw State and Stephen F. Austin.
Highsmith accumulated 3,164 points over five events with 820 points coming from a 9.44 performance and 12th place finish in the 60 meter hurdles. The highest Highsmith would finish in a pentathlon event was the long jump where she jumped 5.30m and a fifth-place finish for 643 points.
Freshman Selena Popp followed close behind Highsmith as she accumulated 3,125 points through the day of competition. Popp finished sixth overall in the high jump with a mark of 1.60m and recorded a total of high of 701 points in the event.
Popp's tallied three Top 10 finishes on the day with her highest being a 5th place finish in the shot put event where she racked up 515 points with a 9.78m throw.
Seniors Kimberly Ruch and Hannah Hardy rounded out the Bulldogs efforts to give Samford four Top 10 finishes in the pentathlon. Ruch tallied a ninth-place overall finish with 3,037 while Hardy nabbed a 10th place finish after she accumulated 3,030 points on the day.
Samford lone heptathlete for the meet was Austin Billings. Billings finished 10th overall after he tallied 4,356 points over the two day span with 2,334 coming during the first day of competition.
Billings jumped up five places during the second day of competition in the final three events. He placed 3rd in the 1,000 meter run with a time of 2:52.14, 8th overall in the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 8.95, 7th in the pole vault with a mark of 3.75m to tally 2,022 points.
The Bulldogs return to action when the team travels to Nashville, Tennessee to take part in the Vanderbilt Indoor Invitational on Jan. 29-30.
The Citadel's Diggs sets record at Captain's Invite
Jan. 22
NEWPORT NEWS, VA. - On day one of the Captain's Invitational, junior Malik Diggs won the rare 200-meter high hurdles and clocked a 25.47, setting a track record at Christopher Newport University's Freeman Center. Teammate Charlie Walker finished second with a 27.14 as the pair captured 18 team points to highlight the Bulldogs' opening day of the indoor season.
On Friday, the men's team was paced by solid relay results and strong performances in field events. The 4x800 relay squad of Stephen Kulick, Jamie Cunningham, Matthew Gill and Grant Smith placed second after finishing with a time of 8:32.22. The 4x200 relay group of Tevin Williams, Corey Williams, Andrew Snoke and Louis Lawrence followed by recording a 1:32.24 to place fourth and earn five team points.
In the high jump, juniors Mitchell Noel and Jackson Nosbisch launched their 2016 indoor campaign with solid results. Noel placed second overall and Nosbisch finished fourth with jumps of 1.93 meters and 1.88 meters, respectively. Sophomore Derrick Freeland ended the evening by grabbing fourth place in the men's weight throw competition, recording a longest throw of 15.84 meters.
Sophomore Mady Reigel led three Bulldogs in the women's weight throw by placing fourth with a throw of 12.73 meters. Other notable performances included a second-place finish by the 4x800 squad of Jessica DeWitte, Caillian Colquitt, Bethany Reeves and Karen Grier (11:40.49) and Asyria Daniels' sixth-place finish in the triple jump (10.53 meters).
The Captain's Invitational wraps up tomorrow with field events beginning at 10 a.m. and track events starting at noon.