Eagles Finish Third at AAC Championships, Women's Team Finishes Eighth

Eagles Finish Third at AAC Championships, Women's Team Finishes Eighth
April 22, 2024

Columbia, SC - Reinhardt Track and Field competed in their final regular season meet this past weekend at the AAC Championships, which was hosted by Columbia International. The Eagles had tons of success with four event champions and numerous more second and third-place finishes. The men's team finished in third place just behind Montreat in second place and Milligan who was the overall team champion.  Milligan has won this event for the past several years, however, Reinhardt keeps making moves upward to start pushing the Buffaloes for this title.  The women's team finished in eighth place overall, with Columbia International crowned champion.

Headlining was David Friedberg who blew the competition away with his throw of 71.93 meters.  His closest competition was his teammate Ethan Rice who just began throwing for the Eagles this year. Rice is a backup quarterback on the Eagles football team and a teammate of Friedberg.  Rice threw 50.93 meters which was about a whole meter further than the third-place finisher.  Give Rice another year throwing and he will be competing with throws in the mid to high 60s.

The Eagles had first-place finishers from these as well:

  • Quan Dorsey- 400mH
  • Dontavious Barker, Caleb Cottrell, Quan Dorsey, Lane Woodward- 4 x 400
  • Austin Wright- Pole Vault

The first-place finishers were considered Conference Champions and All-Conference.  The second and third-place finishers were given the title of All-Conference as well and the Eagles had several that were able to place.

  • Samantha Cramer- High Jump: 2nd Place
  • Marquia White- Discus: 3rd Place
  • Hayden Reyes- 100m: 2nd Place
  • Dontavious Barker- 100m: 2nd Place
  • Hayden Reyes- 200m: 2nd Place
  • Dontavious Barker- 200m: 3rd Place
  • Dontavious Barker- 400m: 3rd Place
  • Tom Vincent- 3k Steeplechase: 3rd Place
  • Caleb Cottrell, Dontavious Barker, Quan Dorsey, Hayden Reyes- 4 x 100m: 2nd Place
  • Braniff Mahoney, Tom Vincent, Arat Joanico, Logan Ray- 4 x 800m: 3rd Place
  • Nekhi Fisher- High Jump: 3rd Place
  • Kerion Williams- Long Jump: 3rd Place
  • Ethan Rice- Javelin: 2nd Place

Additionally, the Eagles had several athletes gain new Reinhardt Track and Field records this weekend indicating that the team is pushing things forward.

A few of the Eagles will have one more shot at getting the coveted spot of making it to the NAIA Nationals.  Track and Field is a little different than other sports where conference champions move on to the national tournaments, but in track and field you have to meet certain standards to qualify.  As of now, David Friedberg is the only athlete to hit this mark so far, but several athletes are very close to hitting their marks.  They will have one more shot on May 11th weekend at the Lee University Last Chance Meet to see if they can achieve their goals.  Only the athletes that are close to those marks will be competing at this event.

The NAIA Nationals is the weekend of May 22-24 in Marion, Indiana so check back for more information on Friedberg's journey and any other athletes that are fortunate to make the trip with him.

Below is a complete list of the finishing results from the AAC Championships:

https://www.aacsports.com/sports/mtrack-out/2023-24/files/Full_Results.pdf