ROCK HILL, S.C. (April 23, 2022) – The Spring Hill College (SHC) women and men's outdoor Track & Field programs finished 3^rd and 7^th respectively at the 2022 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Championships on Thursday-Saturday in Rock Hill, S.C. The women tallied 84 points and the men scored 49 points with both teams setting 34 personal bests. The Badgers earned two conference individual titles as Emma Lind won the Heptathlon and Brian Pempel won the laurels in Javelin.
 
"What a great three days at our conference outdoor meet!" said SHC head coach Craig McVey. "There is no way to adequately relate the incredible effort that both teams left behind. We started Thursday in the 10,000-meter run with a third place and school-record finish by freshman Grace Forbes - freshmen don't do that, but she did. Meredith Tuttle tag teamed with her to help through key portions of the race and that's what great teammates do."
 
Lind enjoyed two great days of Heptathlon competition on Thursday and Friday, setting a personal best score and reaching a number of event-best marks.
 
Pempel had a great series of throws in the Javelin event, including his personal best mark of 52.69 meters (172' 10"). McVey praised his effort, Brian has led the conference for several years in javelin, so it was fitting and rewarding that he finally had the opportunity to win a conference championship after two years of the Covid shutdown."
 
McVey continued, "We had numerous podium, or Top 3, finishes and that's really hard to do. "What was most telling is the energy everyone passed on to each other after three years of waiting to get back to an outdoor championship. The momentum we picked up throughout the meet was just amazing.
 
"The most impressive thing was that our teams turned in a firestorm of 34 personal bests throughout the meet and that's just unheard of," McVey said. "We finally had three better weather days after a cold and wet season with the last being very hot and humid, but by then, a brick wall wouldn't have gotten in our way."
 
McVey stressed that the weekend was a complete team effort, but felt obliged to single out two seniors in particular who dealt with unfortunate circumstances. Jacob Kirby, the SIAC defending champion in the pole vault, sprained his ankle badly on one of his last warm-up jumps and missed the opportunity to defend his conference title, winding up on crutches for the remainder of the meet.
 
According to McVey, Mary Elizabeth Shelton turned in the gutsiest performance in any event he has witnessed at any level, including national and international competition. She made a breakaway move with 2,200 meters (5.5 laps) left in the 5,000-meter run with the sole motivation of winning the race. The first seven laps she was being stalked by the person who offered the stiffest challenge for the conference title. Over the next laps, she developed a lead of well over 200 meters. Shelton looked in control, growing her lead meter by meter, but with one lap to go the heat started to affect her. Her legs getting wobbly and weak, her energy fading due to the temperature, she had to stop three or more times, even going to her knees on the last straightaway.
 
With the last 100 meters seeming like a mile, she barely crossed the finish line, collapsing and being assisted by sports medicine and meet personnel. Shelton finished in 5^th place, but McVey claimed, "In all my years of coaching, I have never seen one race influence and affect so many people. Coaches and athletes from other teams expressed their amazement at the level of courage, determination, and sheer human will that they had just seen. Many, like me, expressed they had never witnessed anything like that before in sport ... ever.
 
"She didn't win," McVey said. "She didn't even medal, but she won the hearts, minds and respect of every single person in attendance, who all witnessed something that brought tears to many eyes. Our team mantra is "LIVE IT!" and in her last collegiate race, Mary Shelton put a new meaning on the exclamation point that completes that phrase. Win or not, it was amazing, inspiring and much more than a championship effort!"
 
Women's Individual Results
 
100 Meter Dash:
20) De'Shanaya Nelson: 13.64
 
200 Meter Dash:
7) Jymece Grimsley: 26.52
24) Nelson: 28.29
25) Alexys Carthen: 28.63
 
400 Meter Dash:
7) Grimsley: 1:03.69
17) Carthen: 1:08.27
 
800 Meter Run:
9) Madeline Knightly: 2:35.47
10) Cat Dulle: 2:36.40
16) Ava Courtney: 2:48.44
 
1500 Meter Run:
3) Mary Elizabeth Shelton: 5:10.73
4) Dulle: 5:20.08
5) Madeline Knightly: 5:21.91
 
5000 Meter Run:
3) Claire Morgan: 20:23.72
4) Knightly: 20:25.86
5) Shelton: 20:33.75
 
10,000 Meter Run:
3) Forbes: 45:34.47
6) Tuttle: 48:06.60

3000 Meter Steeplechase:
2) Morgan: 12:59.49
 
4x100 Meter Relay:
9) Spring Hill (Grimsley, Carthen, Emma Lind, Nelson): 50.83
 
4x400 Meter Relay:
9) Spring Hill (Grimsley, Carthen, Forbes, Lind): 4:22.43
 
Pole Vault:
2) Abigail Remick: 2.45m
3) Marley Bright: 2.00m
 
Triple Jump:
11) DiMaya Evans: 9.25m
 
Shot Put:
18) Iman Walker: 9.33m
 
Javelin:
3) Lind: 32.64m
9) Iman Walker: 21.79m
 
Heptathlon:
1) Lind: 3701 points
6) Savanna Willis: 1634 points
 
 
Men's Individual Results:
 
100 Meter Dash:
25) Chance Beard: 12.31
32) Andrew Jones: 12.49
 
200 Meter Dash:
26) Jalon Scott: 24.95
27) Jones: 25:45
 
400 Meter Dash:
16) Zachary Petty: 55.34
 
800 Meter Dash:
15) TJ Gennari: 2:07.16
18) Ridge Chautin: 2:24.71
19) Curtis Laurent: 2:29.88
 
1500 Meter Run:
18) Thomas Monier: 4:59.91
--) Harrison Weisinger: DNS
 
5000 Meter Run
4) Will Tate: 16:26.28
 
110 Meter Hurdles:
4) John Abate: 16.08
 
400 Meter Hurdles:
5) Abate: 54.73
 
3000 Meter Steeplechase:
4) Myles Cook: 10:48.52

4x100 Meter Relay:
10) Spring Hill (Abate, David Daniels, Scott, Curley): 44.56

4x400 Meter Relay:
--) Spring Hill (Abate, Petty, Gennari, Quincy Curley): DQ

High Jump:
5) Abate: 1.90m
13) Beard: 1.70m

Pole Vault:
3) Brian Pempel: 2.90m
6) Chautin: 2.60m
--) Jacob Kirby: NH

Long Jump:
22) Mallory Struggs: 4.91m

Triple Jump:
3) Daniels: 13.88m
11) Curley: 11.96m

Javelin:
1) Pempel: 52.69m
8) Jakob Hodges: 37.33m

The Badgers will enter a select number of possible NCAA Championship individual qualifiers at the William Carey University "Last Chance" Meet on Friday, May 13 in Hattiesburg, Miss.