ETSU totals six top-three finishes including one event win

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Feb. 7, 2015) – The ETSU track & field program closed out the 2015 Buccaneer Invitational with a number of strong performances including one event title and six total top-three event finishes on Saturday inside the ETSU/MSHA Athletics Center on David E. Walker Track at Gentry Field.

Capturing the Bucs’ lone event win of the day, sophomore Matt Warriner (Maryville, Tenn.) raced to a first-place time in the ETSU-heavy men’s mile run with a personal-best 4:13.73. Also in this race, freshman Haydn Borghetti-Metz (Rogersville, Tenn.) placed eighth with a 4:20.44 time and senior Adam Chase (Kingsport, Tenn.) rounded out the top 10 with a time of 4:20.73.

Continuing the momentum from yesterday’s preliminary and semifinal successes, junior sprinter Keturah Williams (Alpharetta, Ga.) turned in impressive showings in a couple of sprints finals on Saturday. In the women’s 60 meter, the junior contended for the title but was just edged out by St. Augustine’s Ornella Livingston for first place with a 7.573 finish compared to 7.571 in first. In the women’s 200 meter, Williams finished third with a 24.85 time.

After sophomore Ashley Kessler (Knoxville, Tenn.) placed second in the women’s pole vault on Friday, fellow sophomore Brett Squibbs (Rock Hill, S.C.) did the same on the men’s side today with a mark of 4.90 meters in the event. Samford’s Tray Oates took the event title with a jump of 5.00 meters.

Looking to continuing their successes in men’s heptathlon events from Friday, underclassmen Nathan Rivera (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Ben Johnson (Nashville, Tenn.) performed well again in the final three events on Saturday. After leading the field with a score of 2927 yesterday, Johnson fell behind in the standings today to earn a point total of 4695 to finish fifth overall in the heptathlon. Rivera improved following a 2687 score in the initial four events on Friday with top-five placements in each of the 60 meter, 100 meter, and pole vault to earn a runner-up point total of 4770 in the heptathlon. This score was just behind a first-place score of 4825 from Western Carolina’s Christian Carswell.

To close out competition at the meet, the squad of Aubree Collins (Atlanta, Ga,), Carolyn Hinch (Knoxville, Tenn.), Nicole Alexander (Rock Hill, S.C.) and Marabeth Clark (Maryville, Tenn.) blazed to a second-place time in the women’s 4x400-meter relay with a 3:55.17 time. On the men’s side in this relay, the team of Jonathan Foote (Bristol, Tenn.), Thomas Miller (Lithonia, Ga.), Mike Williams (Mt. Laurel, N.J.) and A’Darrius Sanders (Knoxville, Tenn.) raced to a fifth-place time of 3:20.20. Each relay was a field of competition featuring 29 teams.

The ETSU track & field program will be back in action next weekend with a trip to Birmingham, Alabama to participate in the Samford Invitational.

For more information about ETSU track & field, please visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the track & field links.

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