GREENVILLE, N.C. – The East Carolina track & field team is set to host the ninth annual Bill Carson Invitational on Friday and Saturday, March 31-April 1 at the Bate Foundation Track & Field Facility.
The Pirates will be welcoming athletes from: The Citadel, UNCW, Mount Olive and Appalachian State.
“We are always excited about this time of the year,” said Director of Track & Field Curt Kraft. “This is our one annual event where the student athletes to get to compete in front of our home fans, their parents, and their professors.”
The event kicks off at 10 a.m. on Friday with competition resuming at 8 a.m. on Saturday. The 2023 East Carolina senior class will be recognized at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
“Probably one of the highlights of the weekend, is our annual senior day appreciation at 10 AM on Saturday morning,” continued Kraft. “This is a great opportunity to honor our seniors that have been here four and five years. It goes without saying that we would hope that we would perform very well at our home track. I feel like we have some great competition coming in this weekend. I know the student athletes always enjoy competing on their home turf.”
The meet will be scored 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 for individual events and 10-8-6-5-4-3 for relays. The Pirate women enter the weekend having won the meet five years running while the men last won in 2021.
ECU Entries
Men
100m:Royal Burris, Jared Harrell, Nate Williams
200m: Burris, Zach Ray
400m: Ray, Kayin Fails
800m: Fails, Alex Sawyer, Coleman Ferrell, Ethan Corrigan
1,500m:Conner O’Shea, Ted Sielatycki, Nick Willer, Chase Osborne, Cooper Kleckner, Colin McCauley
5,000m: O’Shea, McCauley
110mH:Asa Simmons, Starrett Vesoer
400mH: Simmons
3,000m Steeple:Austin Mathews, Zach Willer
Long Jump: Williams, Vesper
Triple Jump: Harrell, Williams
Shot Put:Logan Carroll
Discuss: Carroll, Vesper
Hammer:Brock Lasure, Carroll
Women
100m:Melicia Mouzzon, Rosalynd Hollingsworth, Makhia Jarrett, Khaide’a Brown, Sydni McMillan, Naturi Robinson, Tereza Babicka, Skyler Harrelson, Stephanie Robson, Elizabeth Taylor
200m: Mouzzon, Jarrett, Hollingsworth, Nyah Gore, Brown, Natalie Mial, McMillan, Babicka
400m: Gore, L’Nya Carpenter, Babicka
800m:Lily Schlossberg, Babicka
1,500m: Schlossberg, Alyssa Zack
5,000m:Jenna Strange, Allysa Combs, Hayley Whoolery
100mH: McMillan
400mH: Robinson, Jordyn Jeffers
3,000m Steeple:Lindsay Yentz
High Jump:Molly Stecker
Pole Vault:Rileigh Cardin
Long Jump: Taylor, Harrelson, Robson, Brooke Brewington
Triple Jump: Carpenter, Taylor, Robson, Brewington
Shot Put:Naadiya Faison, Rebekah Bergquist, Grace Wills, Jasmine Jenkins, Sashoy Benbow, Babicka, Tytionna Spates
Discus: Bergquist, Benbow, Cassidy Clark
Hammer: Jasmine, Wills, Nyah Edwards, A’riana Crumpler, Spates, Clark
Javelin:Ansley Frady, Bergquist, Lindsey Bayes, Allison Dixon, Babicka
Last Time Out
The Pirates opened their outdoor season with athletes at the Raleigh Relays and adidas Trojan Challenge Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Six Pirates made their marks on the program top 10 lists on the weekend while seven earned individual victories and several others notched personal bests.
In Raleigh, Alex Sawyer kicked off the weekend with his 3:50.83 1,500m, good for sixth in program history, while Chase Osborne, who already owns the ECU record, ran 14:47.77 in the 5,000m which would also rank in the top 10 in program history.
Jared Harrell picked up where he left off from his Freshman of the Year campaign indoors with a 15.07m (49-5.5) outing in the triple jump, good for 10th in the program record book.
On the women’s side, Lindsay Yentz put herself into ninth in program history with her time of 2:12.77 in the 800m. Yentz, who holds the fifth fastest 1,500m time in ECU history also neared her PR with a 4:34.70 performance in the event.
“I thought for the first weekend of the outdoor season we performed pretty good,” said Director of Track & Field Curt Kraft. “We obviously have a lot of work to do, but as each weekend goes by, hopefully we will improve. Both teams competed with a lot of energy and with a lot of enthusiasm. Hopefully we have a great week of practice this week and get ready for our home meet – we always look forward to competing at home.”
Over in Mount Olive, seven Pirates found themselves atop the proverbial podium with individual victories. Jasmine Jenkins had perhaps the most impressive performance in her signature event. Jenkins fired her way into the ECU record books with the fourth-best hammer throw in program history with a distance of 59.82m.
Rileigh Cardin, Naadiya Faison, Rebekah Bergquist, Zach Willer, Conner O’Shea and Nick Willer all earned victories on the weekend as well.
Zach Willer and Conner O’Shea both led ECU sweeps in their respective events, the 800m and 5,000m.
In the 3,000m steeple, Nick Willer and Austin Mathews ran the fourth- and eighth-fastest times in program history in 9:18.96 and 9:33.83, respectively.
