Charlotte NC- This weekend the Berea College Men's Track and Field team kicked off their 2018 outdoor season at the 49er Classic hosted by the University of Charlotte. In one of the most competitive meets that Berea has competed in, consisting of teams from D1, D2, D3, and NAIA divisions, many personal records were hit as well as a school record.
Freshman Corey Carroll was the first Mountaineer to hit the track Friday competing in the 100 meters. Carroll finished the race with a time of 10.88 seconds finishing 16th in the field of 84. Dave Bell was the next Mountaineer to compete running the 400 meter hurdles. Bell finished with a time of 56.78. Kyle Young, Caleb Flege and Tanner Carson competed on Friday night in the 1500 meter run. Carson ran a great race to set a PR of 4:00.62. Carson was 35th in the 160 runner field. Caleb Flege also ran a PR with a time of 4:10.72. Kyle Young finished the 1500 meter run with a time of 4:23.53. Landon Bond and Zach Raab ran the 5k following the 1500s. Bond ran a time of 15:49.01 with Raab running 16:58. Logan McKenzie ran the last race of the night for Berea in the seeded section of the 5k. McKenzie picked up right where he left off in indoors running a PR of 14:32.27 to finish 4th overall. McKenzie's time was the sixth fastest 5k time in the US in all divisions. His time broke the old school record of 14:48.16 set in 1997 by Henno Haava.
On Saturday the 4x100 team of Aldrin Vinton, Zach Campbell, Jared Pritt and Dave Bell were the first Mountaineers to take the track. The relay team ran a time of 46.33 to finish 26th. Carson, McKenzie and Young hit the track on Saturday in the 800 meter. Carson finished with a time of 1:55.41 to finish 17th in the field of 115. McKenzie followed right behind with a time of 1:55.79 finishing 21st. Young finished in 2:01.58 to finish 72nd. Corey Carroll came back after his very impressive 100 meter race to run the 200 meters. Carroll finished with a time of 22.94. Flege came back in the 3000 meter race and ran a PR of 9:25.84. The men's 4x800m team of KC Jones, Flege, Bond and Trent Powell ran a time of 8:35.98 to finish 10th. Dave Bell was the only Mountaineer to compete in a field event. Bell competed in the triple jump and leaped to 12/46 meters.
The men's team will travel to Transylvania University on Saturday March 24th to compete in the Transy Pioneer Invitational.
