SATURDAY RECAP

MOUNT BERRY, Ga. - The Centre men's track & field team never lost the lead at the 2026 SAA Outdoor Championships as they cruised to their second straight conference title after scoring 227.5 points.

The Colonels outscored second place Trinity by 45.5 points to get the win, with Berry, Oglethorpe and Southwestern rounding out the top five team scores in that order.

In the 5k, Houston Brooks earned his second all-conference selection of the meet as he posted a runner-up finish with a time of 15:34.06, with Liam Black taking seventh overall.

The Colonels had two of the top five finishers in the men's high jump as Michael Smith finished second overall after clearing 6-5.25 (1.96m), while Isaac Johnson finished fourth overall.

In the shot put, Centre posted a 1-2 finish on the men's side as Luke Cole got the win after finishing with a mark of 52-4 (15.95), with David Harless taking second place. Tyler Garner finished eighth in the event as the Colonels scored 19 of the 39 possible points. Harless later competed in the discus and posted his third podium finish of the meet as he threw 152-10 (46.59m) to take third place.

All-American Cree Ross kicked off a busy Saturday with a win in the triple jump as he finished with a mark of 46-11.5 (14.31m) to take first, with Tykeem Taul-Williams finishing sixth.

The afternoon track session began with the 4x100m relay and Ross teamed with Brayde Carman, Jackson Heim and Beau Brown to get the win with a time of 41.34, 0.01 seconds shy of equaling the program record.

The men's 1500m saw Reeve VanDemark get his second podium finish of the championships, taking third place with a time of 3:58.63, while Carter Russell added to Centre's team score with an eighth place finish. Russell raced again in the 800m and took fifth place with a time of 1:55.60.

In the 110m hurdles, Justin Lewis paced the Centre effort with a time of 15.15 to finish in third, followed immediately by Julian Veliquette in fourth. The 400m hurdles came later in the meet and Veliquette posted the top time for the Colonels, clocking in at 55.49 to finish second while Lewis finished seventh.

Another win for the Centre men came in the 400m as Heim posted a time of 47.52 to take first place, followed by Stephen Jones in seventh.

In the 100m, Brown earned another victory for the Colonels, crossing the finish line in 10.74. Ross joined him on the podium with a third place finish, while Heim finished seventh.

The sprints team continued to rack up the points in the 200m. Heim finished second overall with a time of 21.92, followed by Carman in third and Brown in seventh.

Finally, in the 4x400m relay, Jones and VanDemark teamed with Eugene Aboagye and Hunter Foster to take fifth place with a time of 3:25.06.

FRIDAY RECAP

MOUNT BERRY, Ga. - Day 1 of the SAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships is in the books and the Centre men's team had an excellent first day of competition, leading the pack going into Saturday's session. The Colonels finished the Friday events with 74 points.

The first event of the day was the 10k and freshman Houston Brooks finished in third place as he posted a time of 32:10.58, with Luke Napier finishing in seventh place.

Moving to the field events, David Harless made program history for the third meet in a row as he once again broke the school record in the hammer throw. Harless got the win in the event with a mark of 188-3 (57.37m), breaking his previous record throw by over 11 feet and moving into the national top 20 overall. Luke Cole and Terique Murphy-Adams also cracked the top eight to give Centre 16 total points in the event.

In the javelin, Cole led the way for Centre as he posted a runner-up finish with a mark of 179-5 (54.69m), with Julian Veliquette taking seventh place.

The men's pole vault saw Eden Silver tie for second place overall as he finished with a clear of 13-10.25 (4.22m).

Another school record fell in the long jump as Cree Ross picked up the win with a new program high mark of 24-3.75 (7.41m), which currently puts him at third in all of Division III. Mario Brewer Jr. and Isaac Johnson posted top six finishes as well, helping the Colonels rack up 17 points in the event.

The final scored event of the day was the 3000m steeplechase and it resulted in another win for the Centre men as Reeve VanDemark took first place with a time of 9:41.92, with Grayson Miller and Quinn Gulden also getting into the scoring column.

ALL-SAA
 
All-SAA honors are given to those student-athletes who finish in the top three in their respective events. A running tally of Centre's All-SAA performers and their events based on their highest finishes will kept here during the conference championships.

FIRST TEAM

Beau Brown (100m, 4x100m)
Brayden Carman (4x100m)
Luke Cole (Shot Put)
David Harless (Hammer)
Jackson Heim (400m, 4x100m)
Cree Ross (Long Jump, Triple Jump, 4x100m)
Reeve VanDemark (3000m Steeplechase)
 
SECOND TEAM

Houston Brooks (5k)
Eden Silver (Pole Vault)
Michael Smith (High Jump)
Julian Veliquette (400m Hurdles)
 
HONORABLE MENTION

Justin Lewis (110m Hurdles)

MAJOR AWARDS

Sprints Athlete of the Year - Jackson Heim
Jumps Athlete of the Year - Cree Ross
Throws Athlete of the Year - David Harless
Rookie of the Year - Julian Veliquette
Coaching Staff of the Year