Date Posted: 2/29/2008

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - Led by the crowd-pleasing performance by Elliott Haynie in the pole vault, Gardner-Webb's men lead the 2008 Atlantic Sun Indoor Track and Field Championships by two points at the conclusion of day one. For the third year in a row, ETSU's Memorial Center serves as the host of the event.

Haynie, the defending champion in the event, dominated the nine-man field, setting a meet record with a vault of 17-00.75 (5.20m), besting second place by almost two-and-one-half feet. On Haynie's first attempt at 5.35m, he initially cleared the bar and had just started to celebrate until the bar fell and the crowd, who had fixated their attention on the junior, let out a collective groan.

"I thought [the bar] stayed on and I came off the mat and I was excited," Haynie said. "I just turned around and I didn't know why people were 'ahhing' for and I looked back and the bar was down...I was just shocked."

Two other Runnin' Bulldogs scored in the event as Jeremy Longshore earned a share of second place and Adam Reed took fifth.

ETSU, the two-time defending champion, along with Kennesaw State sit two points behind Gardner-Webb. The Buccaneers picked up a combined seven points in the 3,000-meter run with Kenneth Rotich, Jordan Ladd and Jeff Crane placing fourth through sixth. Rotich and Crane ran two legs in the distance medley relay, en route to finishing fifth. Jarrod Burton, who underwent and appendectomy on Tuesday finished second in the shot put to Kennesaw State's Joshua McNair.

Belmont's distance teams again proved its superiority as John Brigham won the 3,000 and the team of Hillary Cheruiyot, Daniel Joens, Colin Magut and Stephen Register captured the distance medley, earning 20 of the Bruins' 25 points. Kennesaw State also fared well in the distance events as Scott Burley and Peikko Solla finished second and third to Brigham in the 3,000 and the team took second in the distance medley.

Campbell's Sam Tilly won the other event contested on Friday, taking the long jump for the second straight season with a leap of 25-00.50 (7.63m). The Camels sit in fifth place, 14 points behind their North Carolina rivals.

In the championship's opening event, Despite USC Upstate's Perrish Goggins finished day one of the heptathlon with a 55-point lead. Goggins, a freshman from Columbia, S.C. earned top points in the long jump and high jump and placed second in the 60-meter dash. Haynie sits in third but the pole vault is one of the three heptathlon events slated for Saturday.

"It is my first time doing [the heptathlon], period," Goggins said. "Coach saw that I'm well-rounded in the event and he saw the potential in me."

The men's championship concludes on Saturday with the completion of the heptathlon, the weight throw, the high jump, the mile, the 60-meter hurdles, the triple jump, the 400-meter dash, the 60-meter dash, the 800-meter run, the 200-meter dash, the 5,000-meter run and the 4x400-meter relay.

The Atlantic Sun Conference is a 12-member league committed to Building Winners for Life, with a focus on academic and athletic integrity and a balance between the two for the student-athlete, and maintaining a high level of sportsmanship. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun encompasses six of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun consists of some of the most dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Gardner-Webb University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.

Related Links:
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 • A-Sun Indoor Track and Field Championships