Trojans capture ninth straight conference championship
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – For the ninth straight time, the University of Mount Olive men’s track & field team secured the Conference Carolinas Outdoor Championship after featuring seven individual league champions at the two-day event held at the Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium.
Senior Joshua Faison was named the Field Athlete of the Year by the conference after winning conference titles in the discus and shot put, while also scoring points in the hammer throw. Head coach Earl Graves was named Men’s Track & Field Coach of the Year for a third-straight outdoor season.
The Trojans totaled 171.50 points in the team standings to secure the conference championship after rallying from fourth place on the opening day. Mount Olive scored points in 14 of a possible 20 events over the two-day competition, with seven individual champions crowned. UNC Pembroke finished just 6.5 points behind with 165, while North Greenville placed third with 95 points.
Faison earned a pair of conference titles on the final day of the championships, highlighted by a three-peat in the discus and shot put. On Saturday, he registered a toss of 49.82 meters on his third attempt to claim the league title in the discus. Faison also delivered a gold medal in the shot put after posting a distance of 15.93 meters.
Senior Justen Burnette remains the fastest man in the Conference Carolinas after defending his titles in the 100 and 200 meters. He set a new meet record and improved his NCAA provisional mark in the finals of the 100-meter dash after crossing the line with a staggering pace of 10.39 seconds to win. In the 200 meters, Burnette cruised the conference crown with a time of 20.93 seconds to earn maximum points toward the team score.
Sophomore Jaleal Hamlett repeated as the league champion in the triple jump after reaching 14.49 meters on his fifth attempt to win by a significant margin.
Fellow sophomore Demonte Lavender claimed his first outdoor championship in the high jump after clearing 1.95 meters to tally maximum points for Mount Olive.
— From University of Mount Olive Athletics
