Brown becomes ETSU’s first female SoCon discus champion; Lord takes top spot in 800m

CULLOWHEE, N.C. (May 9, 2023) – For the second straight day, history was made by the ETSU women’s track and field program at the Southern Conference Championship.

Less than 24 hours after Chanelle Kruger (Johannesburg, South Africa) became the first Buccaneer female athlete to win a conference championship in the steeplechase, Mary Brown (Radford, Va.) became ETSU’s first-ever women’s discus champion at the SoCon Championship. Brown, who joins Zachlynn Blackburn as the only two female Buccaneer conference champions in the event, won gold with a mark of 42.69m coming on her third attempt. Competing in her final conference championship, Brown secured her first collegiate win in the discus. Blackburn won her gold at the 2007 ASUN Championship with a distance of 39.20m.

Brown wasn’t the only Buccaneer to win gold on Tuesday at the Catamount Athletic Complex.

Jessica Lord (Morristown, Tenn.) won her first individual conference championship by capturing gold in the 800m with a top time of 2:08.68. The Morristown, Tenn. native became the fifth Buccaneer female athlete to win gold in the event at the SoCon Championship and the first since Michelle Gregg won gold in 1995. Joining Lord and Gregg with gold in the 800m at the SoCon Championship are Kellie Smith (1987), Sabrina Keeton (1998) and April Via (1989).

PODIUM FINISHES

First Place – Jessica Lord (800m), Mary Brown (Discus)

Second Place – Myles Stoots (1500m), Miguel Parrilla (800m)

Third Place – Genevieve Schwarz (800m, 1500m), Phelani Maduwa (800m), Tya Blake (Triple Jump), Evan Guzman (5000m), Logan Wagner (Shot Put), Women’s 4x400m relay (Jessica Lord, Hannah Burkhart, Julia Karsten and McKenna Boykin), Men’s 4x400m relay (Miguel Parrilla, Braxton White, Phelani Maduwa and Conner Overly)

TEAM STANDINGS

The Buccaneer men placed fourth overall with 91 points. Samford won the men’s team title with 234 points and host Western Carolina finished second with 133 points.

On the women’s side, ETSU finished fourth with 104.5 points, while Samford made it a sweep as its women totaled 206 points. Wofford posted a second-place finish with 119 points and Western Carolina came in third with 107.5 points.

SCORING PERFORMANCES

ETSU’s women bagged 23 points in the 800m thanks to Lord and Genevieve Schwarz (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) earning podium finishes. Schwarz placed third (2:11.80), while Rebekah Howard (Ashland, Ky.) and Julia Karsten (Old Hickory, Tenn.) went fifth and sixth, respectively. Howard finished in 2:16.28 to post four points and Karsten added three points after clocking in at 2:16.86.

With her win in the discus, Brown secured the 10 points for the Blue & Gold, which at that time, put them into a tie for third with Western Carolina at 96.5 points.

Prior to the 800m, Schwarz provided the Bucs’ first medal of the day as she finished with a bronze after clocking in at 4:23.54, while Howard earned a point with an eighth-place finish (4:36.42).

In the men’s 800m, Miguel Parrilla (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Phelani Maduwa (Parys, Free State, South Africa) went second and third to register 14 points. Parrilla was edged out by VMI’s Trent Whittaker as he won gold with a time of 1:50.20. Parrilla finished in 1:50.23 and Maduwa was right behind in 1:50.51.

The Buccaneer women collected 8.5 points in the women’s high jump with Maya Murchison (Gambrills, Md.) placing fourth in her SoCon outdoor debut and Jaclyn Wright (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) tying for fifth. Murchison posted a personal best mark of 1.61m and Wright cleared 1.56m.

Back on the track, the Buccaneer women picked up three points in the 4x100m relay by placing sixth with a time of 49.13. Wright was joined by teammates LaNaya Martin (Columbia, S.C.), Ant’wonike Jennings (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and Ja’Ciya Guthrie-Barber (Gastonia, N.C.) in the event.

On the men’s side, Myles Stoots (Mobile, Ala.) – who won bronze in the steeplechase on Monday night – earned a silver in the 1500m after he turned in a time of 3:55.10. Evan Guzman (Franklin, Tenn.) – coming off his second-place nod in the 10000m to end the events on day one – earned two points by placing seventh after crossing the line in 3:58.35.

Guzman and Stoots weren’t done scoring as they accounted for 11 points in the 5000m. Guzman earned six points with his third-place mark after turning in a time of 14:56.23 and Stoots followed right behind in fourth with a time of 14:57.85.

In the women’s 5000m, Kruger – running in the event for the first time of her collegiate career –gave the Blue & Gold two points after turning in a seventh-place finish with a time of 17:46.96.

Making his outdoor conference championship debut, freshman Ethan Fulford (Knoxville, Tenn.) picked up three points with a sixth-place finish after generating 4875 points. Meanwhile, D’Shawn Fletcher (Locust Grove, Ga.) also made his debut at the outdoor championships and earned a point in the 100m final by clocking in at 10.97.

Malachi Thomas (Chilhowie, Va.) secured five points in the high jump after clearing 2.00m for a fourth-place finish.

In the men’s and women’s 400m hurdles, both Treven McGhee (Crossville, Tenn.) and Ansley Archuleta (Fort Mill, S.C.) scored in the events. Archuleta collected two points after placing seventh in 1:06.20 and McGhee picked up a point with an eighth-place finish (57.07). Both Archuleta and McGhee set PRs in the event.  

Wrapping things up on the track were the men’s and women’s 4x400m relay teams – who both won bronze medals. The Buccaneer men turned in a time of 3:15.35, while the women clocked in at 3:51.01.

Back in the field events, Tya Blake (Lynchburg, Va.) – the indoor conference champion in the triple jump – won bronze with a leap of 11.66m, which came on her final attempt. The Bucs totaled eight points in the event as Anaya Young (Lumberton, N.J.) recorded two points following her seventh-place finish. Young posted a personal best mark of 10.50m on her second-to-last attempt.

The Bucs weren’t done with their podium finishes in the field events as Logan Wagner (Greeneville, Tenn.) placed third with a mark of 14.38m. Wagner just missed another podium spot in the discus as he placed fourth with a mark of 41.87, earning the Blue & Gold five points.

Marcus Evans (Snellville, Ga.) put together his first collegiate scoring performance at the conference meet as he set a personal best in the triple jump with a mark of 13.80m – placing him fifth overall.

ALL-FRESHMAN SELECTIONS

McKenna Boykin – 400m

D’Shawn Fletcher – 100m

Ethan Fulford – Decathlon

Nate Hillis – 1500m

Chanelle Kruger – 5000m

Meg Lance – 800m

Treven McGhee – 110m Hurdles, 400m Hurdles

Maya Murchison – High Jump

Conner Overly – 800m

Logan Wagner – Discus, Shot Put

Braxton White – 400m

Anaya Young – Triple Jump

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The Bucs are back in action on Saturday when a select number of athletes head to Cleveland, Tenn. for the Lee University Last Chance.

For more information on Buccaneer men’s and women’s track and field, visit ETSUBucs.com.