JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Jan. 14, 2017) – The ETSU men’s and women’s track and field teams competed on day two of the ETSU Track and Field Invitational as three Bucs earned first place honors and 12 top-5 finishes on Saturday in Johnson City.

Highlights of Day Two

• To start day two for ETSU, a pair of Buccaneers cracked the top-10 in the women’s one mile run. Katie Hirko (Oley, Pa.) placed fifth with a 5:21.56 time, and Kaitlyn Lay (Knoxville, Tenn.) finished with a 5:25.90 time to fall into tenth place.
• On the men’s side of the one mile, freshman Noah Charles (Johnson City, Tenn.) finished fourth after clocking a 4:35.96. He was just four seconds away from claiming the top spot in the event and under a second from cracking the top three.
• Heading into the afternoon portion of day two, ETSU had both its men’s and women’s 4000m distance medley relay teams finish second. The women’s medley team finished with a 12:58.10 time, just 4.5 seconds behind SoCon foe Wofford. The men were clocked at an impressive 10:13.93.
• After qualifying for the finals in the women’s 60mH on day one, Kyra Atkins (Greer, S.C.) and Lamisha Simmons (Dania Beach, Fla) stayed hot as they claimed the top two spots, respectively. Atkins dashed to the finish line with an 8.36 time, and Simmons finished behind her teammate at 8.76.
• After outhustling the pack yesterday in the 60 meter dash, Katrina Seymour (New Providence, Bahamas) held her position at the top in the finals. She clocked in at 7.59, which was five milliseconds faster than her preliminary heat.
• Michael Williams (Mt. Juliet, N.J.) went neck and neck with three other runners in the final and finished second in the men’s 60mH. He was one millisecond from tying the top spot but also only held a two millisecond lead over fourth place.
• Freshman Kiana Davis (Ooltewah, Tenn.) showed success in the finals of the women’s 200 meters. She improved her time from the prelims by 0.26 seconds but, ultimately, fell to second place in the finals. Simmons finished middle of the pack in the finals as she was clocked at 25.47.
• The junior from Stuart, Va., Victoria Hutchens (Stuart, Va.), moved into the top-5 in the women’s 3000 meter run. Five runners from Hutchens’ heat claimed all the top times in the overall results.
• In the one mile run, junior Simeon Roberts (Greeneville, Tenn.) cruised to the number one position as he posted a 4:20.45 time.
• In one of the last events of the night, the ETSU women’s 4 x 400m relay team claimed the second slot and edged Kennesaw State by almost 0.50 seconds. Virginia Commonwealth University earned the top slot at 3:50.56.
• David Winchester (Knoxville, Tenn.) finished in the top-5 in the men’s 300 meter with a time of 8:47.82. On the women’s side of the 300 meters, Hutchens placed sixth with a time of 10:31.70, which was 1.22 seconds away from moving into the top-5.

Quotables

Director of Track and Field/Cross Country, George Watts: "I am pleased with our first meet effort up and down the line. We had many fine performances and look forward to seeing how this translates later on, especially at the conference championship. We had several wins and personal bests. Very impressive for an early season performance. As a precaution we held out quite a few people due to injury and sickness."

"Once we field a complete team, we will have a better idea of how good a team we can have. The major highlights were the wins by Kyra Atkins in the 60 hurdles, Katrina Seymour in the 60 dash and Simeon Roberts in the mile run. We had runner up finishes by Kiana Davis, Lamisha Simmons and both distance medley relays."

"I'm most impressed with the progress many of our returnees have made from last year to this year.  Also, we had many "hidden" performances which gives us a good indication of how competitive we can be when we host the Southern Conference Championships in late February."

What’s next for the Bucs

Next weekend ETSU will hit the road to Virginia Tech to compete in the Hokie Invitational. The meet will be a two-day event that starts on January 20 and concluding the next day.

Following the meet at VT, ETSU will host its second of three meets this season: the Buccaneer Track and Field Invitational. The meet will begin on February 2 and conclude on February 4 inside the ETSU/MSHA Athletic Center.

FOLLOW THE BUCS

• For more information about ETSU track & field, please visit com and click on the track & field links.
• ETSU fans wanting to receive Buccaneer news, score updates, in-game promotions and much more sent to their mobile device can do so by signing up for “Buc Updates.” Click here to sign up today!