Hickory, NC- Erskine runners Chance Ellison , Joseph Sell, and Zach Bayless represented the Flying Fleet this past weekend at the NCAA II Southeast Regional Championships hosted by Lenoir-Rhyne University. The trip to Hickory was very successful as the Fleet earned their first region title at 1500m and set new personal bests.
The first event for Erskine was the 1500m in which Sell was seeded third. After the gun went off, Sell immediately fell to the back of the pack and relaxed there for the first two laps. From the 1000m mark, Sell began a big move to reach the front and latched onto the leader, Aaron Thomas of Mars Hill, as they began to pull away from the field. Sell pushed the pace and then overtook Thomas with 150 meters left and out-raced him to the tape in 4:01.91 to win Erskine’s first regional title and a new personal best.
The next competition was the 800m. First up were Ellison and Bayless competing in the first of two heats. Ellison was seeded #1, and knew if he wanted to finally break the 2:00 barrier, he would have to go at it alone. And that he did. From the gun, Ellison went for it and had a 20 meter lead on the field by end of the first lap. The gap only increased as Ellison blasted through two laps for a new personal best of 1:59.80. This incredible 2.5 second personal best earned him fourth place overall finish. Bayless competed in the same heat and finished in 2:12.69 for 17th. Sell was up to the starting line for his second race of the day in the last heat of the 800m. He again employed a similar strategy as his 1500m race. He was patient and made an strong push during the final 200m to advance from near the back of the pack to finish 4th in his heat with a time of 2:00.03, good enough for 5th overall, right behind Ellison.
With this meet, the spring track season comes to an end. The Fleet will take some time to rest before resuming training in mid-May for the fall cross country season. Erskine will open its fall season at the Eye Opener Cross Country meet in Spartanburg, SC on September 5.