April 6, 2011

SPARTANBURG, S.C. ---- Samford senior Blaise Carie has been named the Southern Conference Men's Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week for his performance at the Tiger Track Classic last weekend in Auburn, Ala. The selections are made by the league's track and field coaches.

The honor is Carie's first of the year and Samford's first in the track category in the outdoor season. Michael Seaman and Kyle Kirby earned the first two Field Athlete of the Week honors for the outdoor season.

Carie, a senior from Mount Zion, Ill., ran a personal best and a SoCon-leading time of 9:03.90 in the steeplechase last weekend. He won the event by almost nine seconds at the Tiger Track Classic hosted by Auburn University. The senior ranks second all-time in the Samford record books in the steeplechase behind former Bulldog standout Cameron Bean. Bean holds the school record with a time of 9:01.32 which he notched last season at the Pepsi Florida Relays.

Western Carolina's Jamie Van Pelt was named the SoCon Men's Field Athlete of the Week. The junior from Tampa, Fla., set two personal bests over the weekend at the Tiger Track Classic. He launched a distance of 160-08 in the discus and a hammer toss of 175-11. Van Pelt currently ranks first in the conference in the discus and is top five in the hammer and javelin.

Other top performers this week included:

Appalachian State junior Dennis Moore - Won the 100-meter and 200-meter dash at the Liberty Invitational with times of 10.93 and 21.64, respectively.

Appalachian State senior Jerod Gardner - Placed second in the shot put at the Liberty Invitational with a conference-leading throw of 54-02.

Samford junior Michael Seaman - Jumped a SoCon-leading height of 17-00.75 in the Tiger Track Classic pole vault to place him fourth in the East.