CULLOWHEE, N.C. – JP Caglione and Milan Williams led the way for The Citadel on the opening day of the 2021 Southern Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships hosted by Western Carolina on Saturday afternoon, capturing both the men's and women's hammer throw titles on a strong first day for the Bulldogs that saw four school records fall.

Men's Results

• JP Caglione starred on the men's side on Saturday afternoon, capturing the first individual outdoor championship by a male Bulldog since Derrick Freeland also won the hammer throw in 2017. Caglione tallied a mark of 187-4 (57.10m) en route to the victory, and Prince Howard-Whitaker also earned points for The Citadel with a fifth-place finish and a throw of 159-10 (48.73m). Johnathan Toole's toss of 135-2 (41.21m) gave The Citadel a third top-10 in the event, securing 10th place.
• Sam Blumer claimed the silver medal in the pole vault while breaking his own school record in the event, reaching a height of 16-0.75 (4.90m) on his second attempt. Devin Merrick earned the bronze in the event with a leap of 15-1 (4.60m), and Lindsay Pierce added even more points for the Bulldogs by taking fifth after hitting 14-7.25 (4.45m).
• In the 400m dash preliminaries, both Kane Duncan and Treonte Newton qualified for Sunday's finals in the event, finishing third and sixth, respectively. Duncan crossed the line in 49.07 to win his heat, and Newton was just behind with a time of 49.56.
• Timiebi Ogobri reached Sunday's finals with a seventh-place finish in the 100m dash preliminaries, breaking the tape in 10.86.
• The Citadel got a pair of top-five finishes in the javelin throw as Evan McDonald and Devin Merrick posted points for the team. McDonald's throw of 177-5 (54.09m) earned the bronze medal, and Merrick grabbed fifth place with a toss of 167-5 (51.04m).

 
Women's Results

• Mecca Jackson broke her own school record in the 100m dash for the second consecutive meet, winning the preliminaries of the event with a time of 11.93 to advance to Sunday's finals. Jackson's time marks the first-ever sub-12 second 100m dash on the women's side in program history.
• Jackson also snagged the final qualifying spot for Sunday's 200m dash finals with another strong finish, crossing the line in 24.77 to finish in eighth place.
• Milan Williams shattered her own school record to claim the hammer throw championship, besting her previous best mark in the event by more than 10 feet with a heave of 189-4 (57.72m), nine feet further than the second-place competitor.
• Samantha Engel improved her own school record in the pole vault, reaching a new record height of 11-0.75 (3.37m) to finish ninth.
• Casey Miller earned points for The Citadel in the 3,000m steeplechase, taking fifth place with a time of 12:35.76.
• Anna Barfield and Shannon Ziccarello each posted points in the javelin throw. Barfield's toss of 111-6 (33.98m) was good for a fifth-place finish, and Ziccarello was just behind in sixth place after throwing 109-10 (33.49m). In her first-ever track meet, Maddy Cardenas of The Citadel's volleyball squad threw 105-9 (32.24m) to finish in ninth place.

 
Up Next
The Citadel will close out the 2021 SoCon Outdoor Championships in Cullowhee, N.C., on Sunday. The action is slated to get underway with the first of the final five decathlon events at 9 a.m., with the heptathlon resuming at 9:15 a.m. Field events begin with the women's discus and men's shot put finals at 11:15 a.m. and the women's 4x100m relay gets the track events started at 1 p.m. The day concludes with the women's and men's 4x400m relays at 4:25 p.m. and 4:40 p.m., respectively, followed by the awards ceremony. Thirty events will crown champions on the final day of the meet.