BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- During the 2019-20 season, Samford teams won a combined eight Southern Conference regular season or tournament titles, the most in any year in school history. The eight championships were soccer regular season, soccer tournament, volleyball regular season, volleyball tournament, men's indoor track and field, women's indoor track and field, women's basketball regular season and women's basketball tournament.
 
We at SamfordSports.com are looking back at each team that won championships during the season. In Tuesday's third edition, we will look back at the men's and women's indoor track and field teams, which swept the Southern Conference Championships, winning both indoor titles for the first time in program history.


 
The Samford men's and women's indoor track and field teams entered the 2020 season with high expectations. The women's team had won four-straight SoCon titles, and the men's team had finished second to long-time league leader Western Carolina in 2019.
 
Both teams had phenomenal 2020 seasons, and at the conclusion of the season, Samford brought home, in addition to the SoCon titles, several individual conference awards.
 
Head Coach Rod Tiffin was named the league's Coach of the Year for both the men and the women. Matt Cahoon was named the Most Outstanding Men's Field Performer, Maggie Johnston was named the Most Outstanding Women's Field Performer, Emmanuel Tait earned Most Outstanding Men's Track Performer and Evan Brooks was named the Men's Freshman of the Year.  
 
Before the SoCon Championships, however, the Bulldogs competed in four regular-season meets. The team showed steady improvement throughout the season, building towards that championship meet.
 
The first meet of the indoor season was the Blazer Invitational, hosted by UAB at the Birmingham CrossPlex.  In the meet, two Bulldogs earned two first-place finishes as Mary Grace Strozier won the women's 3000 meter run and McKenzie Hogue won the women's mile.
 
Next up was the first of two meets hosted by Samford at the CrossPlex. Samford athletes earned three event titles and tallied five second-place finishes in the meet. The event winners were Hogue (women's mile), Dillon Dean (men's 3,000 meters) and Justin Stuckey (men's high jump). The second-place finishes came from Brooks (men's 200 meter run), Charlotte Krause (women's high jump), Morayo Bhadmos (women's triple jump), Matt Cahoon (men's weight throw) and Ty Kimberlin (men's heptathlon).
 
The Bulldogs then competed in the Jaguar Invitational, hosted by the University of South Alabama. In the meet, Krause won the women's high jump, while Bhadmos finished first in the women's triple jump. Tally Wilson came in second in the women's pole vault, Hogue finished second in the women's mile, Strozier was the runner up in the women's 5,000-meter run, Stuckey finished second in the men's high jump, Jeb Jones came in second in the men's mile, Titus Moore came in second in the 60-meter hurdles and Dean came in second in the 5,000-meter run.
 
The final warm-up event before the SoCon Championship was Samford's second home meet at the Birmingham CrossPlex. During the meet, Veronica Lyle took home the victory for the Bulldogs in the women's 800-meter run with a time of 2:11.93. Hogue continued her excellence in the indoor distance events, claiming the women's 3000 meter title with a time of 9:49.22. For the field events, Morayo Bhadmos claimed the triple jump title with leap of 12.42 meters. Shian Mallory took home a first-place finish in the women's 800-meter run with a time of 2:14.10, while fellow distance runner Katie Strozier won the women's one-mile run (5:07.43).
 
 
In the SoCon Championship meet, Samford earned commanding wins on both the men's and women's side. The men's team scored 190 points, while second-place Western Carolina tallied 160 points and third-place Furman finished had 102 points. On the women's side, the Bulldogs scored 177.5 points, followed by second-place ETSU with 134 points and third-place Furman tallied 109 points.
 
Individually, Samford athletes took home 10 event titles. The Samford event winners were: Cahoon (men's shot put, 16.06 meters; men's weight throw, 17.10 meters), Brittany Bishop (women's pole vault, 3.85 meters), Stuckey (men's high jump, 2.05 meters), Kimberlin (men's heptathlon, 5010 pts.), Moore (men's 60-meter hurdles, 7.92), Johnston (women's weight throw, 18.27 meters), Tait (men's 60-meter dash, 6.81), Hannah Lueders (women's 200-meter dash, 24.47) and Krause (women's high jump, 1.65 meters).
 
Following the SoCon Indoor Championships, Samford was unable to compete in its outdoor season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, we will never know how the Bulldogs would have fared during their outdoor meets, but the performances these teams turned in during the 2020 SoCon Indoor Championships will always be remembered by Samford followers.