Huntington, W.Va- The Alderson Broaddus University men's and women's track & field teams have a great showing at the MEC Indoor Track & Field Conference Championship finishing the weekend with five school records, along with four podium finishes. 

The first day of competition in the field, we seen a huge day by Cedric Carter where he broke the indoor shot put record going on to finishing in fourth. Carter barely missed hitting the 15m mark while throwing 14.80m. He was joined in the event by Micah Swann finishing in tenth and Micah Harrison who finished in 12th. In the women's long jump, Justice Washington barely missed making the finals jumping 4.65m and placing tenth. Greysen Gerth added a twelfth place finish in pole vault, vaulting 3.55m, barely missing the vault at 3.70m. 

Day one on the track got started off with Kaylie Laskody placing twelfth in the 60 hurdles, matching her season best time. Devon Napier and Isaiah Jean qualified for the 60m final, running 6.95 and 6.97 respectively, both being new PRs. Also in the race was Calvin Blunt and Jomel Monpas who finished in twelfth and sixteenth respectively. In the 400, Nathan Jacobs and Shelton Bass qualified for the finals.Jacobs ran a new PR of 50.50, while Bass shattered his previous school record that he set three weeks prior, running the top time of 48.90. Bass came back in the 200 breaking the school record, and running the second fastest prelim time of 21.90. Napier was also a qualifier, matching his lifetime best time of 22.17. Adra Schell was the lone distance runner to compete on Friday, running a new PR of 20:53.99 in the 5000m run and finishing in fourteenth. To close out the night, the women's distance medley relay team of James, Desiree Knotts, Trinity Bumbry, and Schell finished in seventh , running a time of 13:59.49. On the men's side, the team of Jacobs, Andrew Nephew, Vernon Smith, and Alexander Cockerham finished outside of scoring by placing ninth.

Day two in the field events got started with Cameron Tropeck hitting a new lifetime best jump of 1.78m, finished in eleventh place. Kaylie Laskody hit a new season best height of 1.47m finishing tied for seventh. In the men's weight throw, Jacob Sharp had the top finish for the Battlers finishing in eighth with a new lifetime best throw of 13.40m. Harrison just missed finals finishing in tenth, while Carter finished fourteenth. 

The running session got underway with the 60m dash, Napier finished in sixth and Jean finished in eighth running 6.96 and 7.10 respectively. In the 400 dash, Shelton Bass put on a clinic, finishing first overall, breaking his school record that he set the prior day, breaking the conference record, and hitting a new national provisional qualifying mark of 47.96 (at the time he ran this it was the seventeenth best time in the nation). Jacobs finished the 400 in sixth with a new lifetime best time of 48.67. In the 200 final, Napier cruised to a new lifetime best of 22.11 and finished in third overall. Bass finished the race in fifth with a time of 22.29. In the 3000m run, Schell was back at it running a new PR of 11:56.99 finishing in fourteenth. Schell has PR'd in just about every race this year. In the women's 800, James finished strong to solidify a 3rd place finish, where she was the top freshman in the race running 2:19.25. To close out the meet, the women's 4x400 team comprised of James, Bellela Colas, Nykia Fort, and Bumbry broke the school record by four seconds running a new PR of 4:06.30, and finished in fifth overall. The men's 4x400 team comprised of Jacobs, Nephew, Jonathan Nagalo, and Bass went on to break a 5 year old record, finishing in second with a time of 3:20.42.

"I am speechless" said Coach Paris Vaughan about the performances at the conference championship. "The performances this weekend just go to show that the preparation was there and they put it all out there. Conference championships should be where your best work shows. We have work to do on the women's side, but I also know where we lack and we will be working on that going forward. With the men, last year we came into the meet and finished in last with 3 points, this year we finished in sixth, and barely out of fifth scoring 41 points after leaving a bunch of points on the board." When asked about the performance by Shelton Bass, Coach Paris said, " what Shelton did this weekend was out of this world, but it was something that we expected since the beginning of the year. We had many talks about what he should be able to run this indoor season, and he surpassed that majorly, so now we look to see what more he can do going forward."

The Battlers have closed out their season for the most part, with the exception of Bass. He will try to increase his chances of competing at the national meet in Virginia Beach, VA this upcoming weekend at the Fastrack Last Chance Meet in Staten Island, NY. The meet will hopefully give Bass the needed boost to lower his time and get into the national meet.