CHAPEL HILL, N.C – Six Charleston Southern Buccaneers won individual events and a number set new personal marks as the Bucs opened the 2014 indoor season with a strong showing at the Joe Hilton Invitational on Saturday.
Buccaneer individual winners included Rozzie Johnson in the 60 meters, Braxton Drummond in the long jump, Richie German in the weight throw, E.J. Reddick in the triple jump, Jarad Jeter in the 400 meters, and Kuaniyal Choi in the 800 meters
Johnson ran a 6.91 in the 60-meter finals to win his event. He ran a 6.93 in the preliminaries to run the two fastest times in the meet.
German set a new personal best with a throw of 17.13 meters on his fourth attempt to take the weight throw and improve his career best by over a half a meter.
Drummond started 2014 right where he left off to close out the 2013 indoor season. The junior jumped 7.17 meters on his fifth try to win the event over competitors from Duke, Davidson, and North Carolina A&T. The 2013 All-American had a personal best of 7.68 last season to reach the NCAA Indoor Championships.
The Bucs also started the season strong in the triple jump as sophomore E.J. Reddick put up a personal best and junior Avery Coe wasn't far off of his. Reddick bounced 14.55 meters to top his teammate by .07 meter for the title. He also beat his personal best by .33 meters. Coe went 14.48, just shy of his career best mark to take second.
Sophomore Jarad Jeter added another title for the Buccaneers, breaking his own personal best in the 400 meters with a time of 49.44. He won by over a full second in the 11-man field.
Junior Kuaniyal Choi turned in a 1:56.52 to win the 800-meter run.
CSU grabbed second and third in the 200 meter dash. Sophomore Alex Phillips had a personal best with a 23.15 to finish ahead of teammate Sheldon Townsend. The freshman ran a 23.67 in his first meet.
Freshman Clarence Gallop took third in the weight throw with a 16.20 meter toss, while fellow-freshman Malik Graham was fourth with a toss of 13.76 in his first collegiate meet.
In the shot put, another CSU freshman, Jacob Moore, took third with a throw of 14.01 meters on his final throw.
Freshman Zachary Long took a solid fourth in the 3,000-meters, running a 9:39 to finish in the top half of the field.
CSU returns to the same track at UNC Chapel Hill for the 2014 Tar Heel Open next Saturday.
-CSU-
