Men’s and women’s teams place third; Numerous Bucs shatter personal records

LEXINGTON, Va. (Jan. 26, 2019) – Seven wins and a haul of personal records made for a memorable meet for ETSU Track and Field Saturday at the VMI Team Challenge in Lexington, Va.

As a unit, the ETSU men’s and women’s teams each finished third place with seven individual victories. The men tallied 86 points while the women racked up 82 points for the bronze.

The sophomore duo of Ben Varghese (Kingsport, Tenn.) and Lindsey Stallworth (Knoxville, Tenn.) won running events for the third straight week, while redshirt senior Ben Johnson (Nashville, Tenn.) earned a pair of wins in throwing events. Three other Bucs picked up their first wins of the season at VMI.

"We continue to have some decent performances as we progress through the first half of the season," said ETSU Director of Track and Field George Watts. "We've yet to compete a full team — especially on the women's side. We have a lot of work ahead of us as we try to get some athletes healthy and get more reps under their belt. We had several wins and other top three finishes today, and it's always a plus when you get used to winning."

Track Highlights from Day Two

• The first of five distance wins for ETSU came in the men’s mile as Varghese broke the tape for a third-straight week with a time of 4:09.74 — a new personal record. The Bucs placed 1-2-3 to rack up 24 points with Wes Pectol (Greeneville, Tenn.) and Josh Routh (Gray, Tenn.) medaling in the mile. Routh set a new PR at 4:18.85.

• Sophomore Jessica Lord (Morristown, Tenn.) won the women’s 800m run at the VMI Team Challenge for the second season in a row, clocking in at 2:14.38 for the gold. 

• Earning his first win in the Blue and Gold, junior transfer Khayvonn Benson (Marietta, Ga.) won the men’s 800m with a time of 1:56.26. After running the mile about an hour prior, Pectol doubled up and competed in the 800m, placing second at 1:57.44. 

• The Bucs also swept the 3000m runs with Stallworth winning the women’s event, shattering her PR by over six seconds at 9:50.53. Freshman Genevieve Schwarz (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) finished third for a second straight week, crossing the line at 10:16.43. 

• In the men’s 3K, sophomore Matthew Scarr (Wamberal, NSW, Australia) beat his personal record by over 30 seconds in an impressive performance to win at 8:31.93. Senior Adam Bradtmueller (Sarasota, Fla.) took silver at 8:34.49 for eight points.

• In sprint action, senior Lamisha Simmons (Hollywood, Fla.) qualified and later placed second in the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 8.90. Simmons also scored in the women’s 200m dash later in the day with a new PR of 25.67.

• Freshman Mekayla Brown (Elgin, S.C.) qualified in the top eight for the 60 meter dash and edged Western Carolina senior Mia Little for fourth place by 0.007 of a second. Her time of 7.79 (7.781) sets a new PR.

Field Highlights from Day Two

• Johnson won both the men’s weight and men’s shot put for the first time in his five-year career — setting a personal record in the shot put of 16.32m. Johnson also placed first in the men’s weight with a mark of 20.17m. Both of Johnson’s PR’s have been set inside the Corps Physical Training Facility, with the men’s weight mark of 21.99m coming in last year’s SoCon Indoor Championships.

• Freshman Khiara White (Stone Mountain, Ga.) made her collegiate debut Saturday in the women’s long jump and impressed with a third place finish of 5.43m for six points.

• In the women’s weight throw, sophomore Symphony Buxton (Knoxville, Tenn.) scored three points with a mark of 12.60m.

• A pair of personal bests was set by Bucs in the women’s shot put as sophomore Jaden Finch (Glen Aubrey, N.Y.) launched a 15.37m throw and senior Margaret Hayden (Ballymore Eustace, Kildare, Ireland) scored right behind her at 15.08m.

• Senior Nyambi Shoates (Atlanta, Ga.) recorded her first triple jump mark of the season as a personal record — scoring three points at 11.22m. Redshirt-freshman and fellow Peach State representative Aliyah Hill (Snellville, Ga.) scored a pair of points with a mark of 11.15m.

Thoughts from Coach Watts

Standout performances for the men: "Especially impressive was Ben Johnson in both throws, Ben Varghese leading a sweep in the mens mile and a one-two finish in the mens 3000m run by Matt Scarr and Adam Bradtmueller."

Standout performances for the women: "Lindsey Stallworth continues to sparkle as she remains undefeated by winning the 3K with another personal best. Jessica Lord turned in nice a winning performance and running an indoor best along the way. Other strong performances included Lamisha (Simmons) finishing second in the hurdles and Genevieve (Schwarz) earning a third place finish with another personal best in the 3K. Jaden Finch and Margaret Hayden finished off the meet with personal bests in the weight throw."

On what lies ahead: "We look forward to hosting our second home meet next weekend where we hope to have a few more people competing as we move closer to the conference championship."

The Bucs return home next week for their second home meet of the season — the Buccaneer Track and Field Invitational. The two-day meet will run on Feb. 1-2 inside the MSHA/ETSU Athletics Center. The final day of the meet will serve as ETSU’s senior day.

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For more information on ETSU track and field, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the track and field pages. Also, follow the program on Twitter @ETSU_TF_XC and on Instagram at the handle @etsuxctf.