HobbsDailyReport.com
ROCK HILL, S.C. – The track and field coaches in the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) are predicting a third-place finish for both Lenoir-Rhyne University teams this season.
In a preseason poll released by the conference, the LRU men were tabbed for third place behind Queens and Wingate.
The LRU women were also selected to finish in third place, also behind Queens and Wingate.
Both Queens teams have won three straight conference titles.
Sophomore P.J. Lotharp of Indian Trail will lead the LRU men. He earned NCAA Division II All-American honors in the men’s 60-meter dash last week after finishing seventh at the Division II Indoor Championships in Pittsburg, Kan., and won the 200-meter dash at the 2018 SAC Indoor Finals in February in Winston-Salem.
Lotharp missed last year’s outdoor season with an injury.
The LRU women are led by sophomore Autumn Drayton, the 2017 SAC Outdoor Women’s Freshman of the Year and defending league champion in the women’s discus.
Both Bears teams were third in the inaugural SAC Indoor Track and Field Championships last month.
SAC OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD PRESEASON POLL
(as voted on by the league’s head coaches)
WOMEN
1. Queens (9) 116
2. Wingate (2) 102
3. LENOR-RHYNE 90
4. Coker 80
5. Anderson 77
6. Carson-Newman 75
7. Lincoln Memorial 52
8. Mars Hill 46
9. Tusculum 36
10. Catawba 30
11. Newberry 18
MEN
1. Queens (10) 116
2. Wingate (1) 101
3. LENOIR-RHYNE 92
4. Carson-Newman 89
5. Coker 68
6. Anderson 63
7. Tusculum 55
8. Lincoln Memorial 47
9. Mars Hill 41
10. Catawba 30
11. Newberry 20
- Reported by LRU Sports Information