RESULTS
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Lee University men's track & field team placed second at the Emory Crossplex Showdown Sunday at the Birmingham CrossPlex. The Flames posted three event wins on their way to scoring 114 points, but Alabama Huntsville amassed 146 points to secure the overall team win.
The Flames combined to set program records in the high jump, weight throw and shot put. Gari Garmendia claimed Lee records in the throwing events. The senior finished second in the shot put and was fifth in the weight throw. His mark of 15.61 meters in the shot put eclipsed his own mark of 15.46 meters set last season. He also extended his record distance in the weight throw with a measurement of 14.26 meters. His previous best was 13.47 meters.
Jonah Mayes added the final Lee record of the day with a first-place high jump of 1.95 meters. Evan Hanen held the standard of 1.92 meters since the 2018 season. Derek Flatford joined Mayes in the high jump and finished fifth after clearing 1.80 meters.
"Jonah jumped a big school record in the high jump," said Lee head coach Caleb Morgan. "I am very excited to see what the sophomore will do by the end of indoor. He is very confident right now."
Flatford and Mayes also competed in the long jump. Flatford finished fifth with a leap of 6.73 meters and Mayes finished 14
th with a jump of 6.15 meters. Mayes added another top-five performance with a triple jump of 13.67 meters to finish fourth.
Christian Noble and Casey Guthery recorded Lee's other two event wins. Noble won the mile run with a time of 4:14.69, while Guthery was the winner at 8:35.48 in the 3000-meter run.
"Christian and Casey both picked up big wins in the mile and 3K. Both races had slow opening laps, but they closed well and got the job done," added Morgan.
Stone, Sandifer and Andrew Hendry joined Noble in the mile run. Stone was fourth (4:21.35), Sandifer finished fifth (4:24.45) and Hendry was 19
th (4:33.62). Thomas Kelton (8:40.96) placed fifth and Caleb Eagleson was sixth (8:45.26) in the 3000. Adan Rodriguez stopped the clock at 9:02.52 for 12
th and Ezekiel Harless' time of 9:13.26 put him in 15
th.
Teagan Lenox and Stacen Cunningham competed in the 60-meter dash with Lenox (7.17) finishing 18
th and Cunningham (7.22) coming in 25
th in the preliminaries. In the event semi-finals, Cunningham was 18
th (7.20) and Lenox finished 30
th (7.47).
Caleb Campbell led four Flames into the 400-meter dash. He finished second (49.97) with Jeremiah McCain right behind in third place (50.29). Jailon Santee (52.62) and Charles Nnantah (52.65) were 19
th and 20
th, respectively. In the 200-meter dash, Campbell finished fourth (22.54) and Santee was 19
th (23.40).
Flatford, McCain, Cunningham and Nnantah were Lee's representatives in the 60-meter hurdles. In the preliminaries, Flatford (8.72) and McCain (8.78) finished in the top eight to advance to the final. McCain placed fourth (8.63) in the final and Flatford was fifth (8.69). Cunningham finished ninth (8.86) and Nnantah (9.31) was 16
th in the preliminary round.
Elias Sandifer crossed the finish line of the 800-meter run at 1:58.06 for third in the event. Will Stone completed the distance in ninth (1:59.62).
Daniel Surman cleared 4.10 meters to place seventh in the pole vault. Eli Brooks finished eighth at a height of 3.95 meters.
The Flames return to action this coming weekend. Noble will travel to a meet in Boston to run the 5000-meter on Saturday, while the rest of the team will return to the Birmingham CrossPlex for the KMS Invitational on Sunday.
