BLACKSBURG, VA. – Charleston Southern junior Braxton Drummond captured the long jump title at the Big South Indoor Track & Field Championships for a second straight season on Friday to lead the Bucs into a sixth place standing through day one of the league meet.
Drummond jumped 7.49 meters to win the long jump and best his closest competitor by .31 meters. Drummond, a junior from Spartanburg, S.C., set a conference record just last week at the Alex Wilson Invitational with a jump of 7.71 m.
While Drummond's performance was the highlight on day one of the conference championships for first-year head coach Roosevelt Lofton and the Bucs, others put themselves in position to leave their mark on day two.
CSU sophomore Jared Jeter led the way in that respect, winning the 400-meter dash prelims with a time of 49.14 seconds, .14 seconds clear of the runner-up. Drummond was at it again in the 200-meter prelims, placing 2nd – only .11 seconds off the top spot – with a time of 21.83 seconds to earn his way into Saturday's finals.
CSU senior Rozzie Johnson will get a chance to defend his 60M title at last year's Big South Championships thanks to his 4th place showing in the prelims. Johnson ran in 6.87 seconds to qualify for Saturday's finals. Junior Kuaniyal Chol was the other Buc to earn a spot into tomorrow's finals. Chol will compete in the 800M finals tomorrow after running the prelims in 1:54.07 to place fifth.
In the weight throw finals, CSU senior Richie German capped off a strong final indoor campaign with a CSU school record in a fourth place showing, throwing 18.14 meters. His throw broke his own prior school mark by half a foot. Freshman Clarence Gallop had a strong outing as well, placing ninth with a throw of 15.68 meters. Jacob Moore established a personal record in the weight throw with a throw of 14.29 meters.
As a team, CSU sits in sixth place through day one with 16 points. Liberty is in first place with 74.50 points, while High Point is second with 37 points.
Saturday's events begin at 11 a.m. with the high jump and continue through 4:40 p.m.
