by Benny Benton
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Lawrence Russell Jr., Semaj Street and Aaron Jones combined for five podium finishes on Sunday in helping Barton College to a fourth-place finish at the 2016 Conference Carolinas Indoor Championships, the program's best finish ever in four seasons of competition at the league meet.
The Bulldogs also broke six school records and recorded four additional personal records in their banner afternoon.
Barton amassed 54.5 points in claiming fourth place. North Greenville University was immediately ahead of the Bulldogs in third with 79, and Lees-McRae College trailed in fifth with 39.5. Limestone College knocked off two-time defending champion University of Mount Olive to take the league title, 196 to 185.
Both Russell and Street earned multiple top-three finishes in the meet. Russell, a freshman from Sicklerville, N.J., broke his own school record and improved upon his NCAA provisional time in the triple jump after making a leap of 14.39 meters to finish second out of 13 competitors. He also took third place out of 15 participants in the long jump with an effort of 6.85 meters.
Street, a junior from Fayetteville, N.C., captured second place among a talented field of 18 in the marquee 60-meter dash event. He finished runner-up in the preliminary round with a time of 6.95 seconds, and lowered the mark to 6.91 while again coming in second in the finals. Street also claimed third out of 22 in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.40 seconds.
Jones, a sophomore from Blounts Creek, N.C., took home third place in the 400-meter run against a field of 18 with a personal record time of 50.63 seconds. He later earned a PR in the 200 as well with his 11th-place run of 23.22 seconds.
By virtue of their top-three finishes, Russell, Street and Jones were all recognized as All-Conference Carolinas performances. They were award First Team, Second Team or Third Team honors based on their finish.
Russell and Street each earned 14 points towards Barton's team total of 54.5. Jones earned six for his third-place individual finish, and helped the Bulldogs gain five more as part of the 4x400-meter relay team that placed fourth with a school record time of 3:27.22. He was joined in that run by Nihgel Scott, Collin Wilks and Raekwon Fiddermon.
Barton's other relay team, the distance medley foursome of Adam Pope, Sebaston Barrett, Luar Mercado Lopez and Lashley Winter also set a new Barton record with their sixth-place time of 11:07.79.
Sophomore Joel Lagat broke two school marks, including one that eclipsed the last remaining record from the program's first season. Austin Edmonds had held that standard in the mile since the 2013 league championships with his time of 4:38.61, but Lagat delivered a mark of 4:34.53 while coming in eighth in a field of 23.
Lagat, a resident of Eldoret, Kenya, also improved upon his own school record by one second in the 3000 meter run. He recorded a time of 9:26.37 on Sunday while placing ninth in a field of 25.
Another sophomore breaking his own school record in the meet was Justin Alford, who improved his standard in the pole vault with a mark of 3.76 meters. The effort helped the Middlesex, N.C., resident tie for fifth in a field of 11.
In addition to the two school records set by Lagat in the mile and 3000-meter run, he also set a PR of 2:00.59 in the 800-meter run while finishing fifth in a field of 24. Two other Bulldogs set PRs in the same event, Fiddermon (2:00.86) and Leslie Jones (2:14.71). Joining Lagat with a PR in the 3000 was Pope (9:55.20).
Barton hopes to carry the momentum of its strong finish indoors into the outdoor season, which begins March 18 and 19 with the Shamrock Invitational in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
