Reinhardt Competes Well at AAC Track & Field Championships

Reinhardt University competed several events at the Appalachian Athletic Conference Track & Field Championships in Johnson City, Tenn., I for the first time in the athletic department's history. While the team members did not compete for a team score, several Eagles came up victorious in various events.

"This was a tremendous effort by these student-athletes," said RU head cross country coach Jordan Turner, who is also overseeing the development of RU's potential track & field program. "Some of these athletes haven't competed in these events since high school, and for some, this was the first time they were in these disciplines in competition. I couldn't be prouder of the effort we had today."

In the men's 4x100 Meter Relay, the Reinhardt team of Tyler Martin, Jabari Nelson, D.J. Sellers, and Nick Johnson came away victorious with a time of 43.73, winning the event by .23 seconds. Johnson and Nelson would finish in first and second in the men's triple jump. Johnson landed with a distance of 13.43m, with Nelson fractionally behind at 13.03m.

Martin would take home a victory in the men's javelin throw. The freshman bested the field by almost seven meters with his standard-setting first throw of 52.30m.

In other events, Martin and Sellers finished sixth and 10th, respectively, in the 200m Dash. Brent Blackwell was the best of five runners in the 800m Run with a 12th place effort. Zachary Taylor was 12th in the 5000m Run, Alex Garcia was fifth in the 3000m Steeplechase, and Nelson placed fifth in the High Jump.

On the women's side, Jazzmine Gonzalez had one of RU's best individual finishes with a ninth place effort in the 800m Run. In the 4x400m Relay, Eryn Speer, Salena Calhoun, Alesa Constien, and Gonzalez placed in fourth for the Lady Eagles squad.