LEXINGTON, Va. --- The Tusculum University men's and women's indoor track and field teams each earned top-five finishes at Saturday's VMI Winter Classic.

The Pioneer men had two victories and eight top-five finishes en route to fifth place, while the Tusculum women had four wins and 11 top-five showings while taking third place in the final team standings.

Tusculum will begin preparation for the South Atlantic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championship, which will be held Saturday, Feb. 28 and Sunday, March 1 at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

MEN'S RECAP
Junior Lansford Cunningham broke his own school record and posted the third-best mark in Division II this season in the long jump. Cunningham fouled on his first two attempts, then posted a mark of 7.55 meters (24 feet, 9 1/4 inches) to break his school record of 7.42 meters set at the Hokie Invitational on Jan. 23. Cunningham's mark nearly stood as the event winner, but national leader Tobechukwu Nwokocha of Lenoir-Rhyne leaped 7.58 meters on his next-to-last attempt to finish first.

Cunningham took third in the 60 meters with a career-best time of 6.91 seconds, and was part of the winning 4x400 relay that ran 3:20.65, joining freshmen Lamarkus Dunn and Cedric Stewart and junior Chazz Alexander in the event.

Dunn won the 400 meters with a time of 49.63 seconds, which is fourth on the program all-time performance list, with sophomore John Ross in third in a career-best 50.31 seconds and junior Marshae McDonald in seventh place in 51.22 seconds.

McDonald was eighth in the 200 meters at 22.64 seconds, and sophomore Levi Carson took fifth place in the 800 meters at 2:01.42. In the mile run, freshman Albert Ziegler placed 10th in 4:37.62.

Sophomore Justin Williams advanced to the finals of the 60 hurdles and placed fifth with a time of 8.58 seconds.

The Virginia Tech club team was the team winner with 110 points, followed closely by Emory & Henry with 101.5 points and Lenoir-Rhyne in third at 101 points. Host VMI was fourth with 85 points, with Tusculum taking fifth at 55 points and Methodist in sixth at 45.5 points.

WOMEN'S RECAP
The Pioneers had five runners advance to the finals of the 60 meters, and took the top five spots in the final race with sophomore Qitarah Castlin running a career-best 7.44 seconds to outrun senior Jahzara Hart, who was the top qualifier at 7.44 seconds but ran 7.46 in the final. Senior Shanice Cox was third in a career-best 7.54 seconds, and sophomore Kori Moore was fourth after posting a career-best 7.69 in preliminaries. Junior Alonda Shelton rounded out the Pioneer quintet with another career best time in the finals at 7.72 seconds.

Cox moved into the top 15 nationally in the 200 meters with a winning time of 24.18 seconds, which is .35 faster than her previous best and second-best in program history. Shelton finished third in 25.03 seconds which is another career best.

In the 60 hurdles, Moore was the top seed in preliminaries at 8.62 seconds and followed up with the finals victory in 8.55 seconds. Junior Kialia Claiborne knocked more than four-tenths off her prelims time by running 8.97 for fourth place in the final, with junior Kieley Smith in sixth at 9.35 seconds.

Claiborne finished fourth in the 400 meters at 57.52 seconds, also a season best and the fourth-fastest time in program history. She also ran the 4x400 meters with Moore, Shelton and Castlin which placed first at 3:50.41, just off the school record of 3:50.05 set in February 2020 at South Carolina.

Freshman Shamyra Reid had the eighth-best mark in the shot put in program history and finished eighth overall at 11.50 meters (37 feet, 8 3/4 inches), and had a 10th-place finish in the weight throw at 11.97 meters (39 feet, 3 1/4 inches). Smith was sixth in the long jump with the eighth-best mark in program history of 5.20 meters (17 feet, 3/4 inch).

Appalachian State piled up 209 points to win the team event, with Lenoir-Rhyne taking second at 98 points and Tusculum in third with 86 points, well ahead of fourth-place Meredith which had 51 points.

VMI Winter Classic
Tusculum results
MEN
60 prelims: 4. Lansford Cunningham, 6.96 (advances); 12. Cedric Stewart II, 7.09; 13. Kayvon Pickett, 7.11; 21. Lamarkus Dunn, 7.31.
60 finals: 3. Lansford Cunningham, 6.91.
60 hurdles prelims: 4. Justin Williams, 8.65 (advances); 18. Jamal Cash, 10.51.
60 hurdles finals: 5. Justin Williams, 8.58.
200: 8. Marshae McDonald, 22.64; 11. Kayvon Pickett, 22.75.
400: 1. Lamarkus Dunn, 49.63; 3. John Ross, 50.31; 7. Marshae McDonald, 51.22.
800: 5. Levi Carson, 2:01.42;.
Mile: 10. Albert Ziegler, 4:37.62.
4x400: 1. Tusculum A (Dunn, Cunningham, Stewart, Alexander), 3:20.65; 5. Tusculum B (Peterson, McDonald, Williams, Nabi), 3:30.35.
Long jump: 2. Lansford Cunningham, 7.55m (24-9 1/4) (school record).

Team scores: 1. Virginia Tech Club 110; 2. Emory & Henry 101.5; 3. Lenoir-Rhyne 101; 4. VMI 85; 5. Tusculum 55; 6. Methodist 45.5; 7. Southern Virginia 34; 8. Ferrum 21; 9. VCU Running Clbu 20; 10. Garden State Track Club 10; 11. OG's Vault Club 8.

WOMEN
60 prelims: 1. Jahzara Hart, 7.44 (advances); 3. Qitarah Castlin, 7.56 (advances); 4. Shanice Cox, 7.65 (advances); 5. Kori Moore, 7.69 (advances); 7. Alonda Shelton, 7.73 (advances); 14. Kieley Smith, 8.05.
60 finals: 1. Qitarah Castlin, 7.44; 2. Jahzara Hart, 7.46; 3. Shanice Cox, 7.54; 4. Kori Moore, 7.71; 5. Alonda Shelton, 7.72.
60 hurdles prelims: 1. Kori Moore, 8.62 (advances); 5. Kialia Claiborne, 9.40 (advances); 6. Kieley Smith, 9.51 (advances).
60 hurdles finals: 1. Kori Moore, 8.55; 4. Kialia Claiborne, 8.97; 6. Kieley Smith, 9.35.
200: 1. Shanice Cox, 24.18; 3. Alonda Shelton, 25.03.
400: 4. Kialia Claiborne, 57.52.
Mile: 16. Skyler Shinn, 5:56.61; 18. Ruby Groves, 5:59.47.
4x400: 1. Tusculum (Moore, Shelton, Claiborne, Castlin), 3:50.41.
Long jump: 6. Kieley Smith, 5.20m (17-3/4).
Shot put: 8. Shamyra Reid, 11.50m (37-8 3/4).
Weight throw: 10. Shamyra Reid, 11.97m (39-3 1/4).

Team scores: 1. Appalachian State 209; 2. Lenoir-Rhyne 98; 3. Tusculum 86; 4. Meredith 51; 5. Virginia Tech Club 39; 6. Southern Virginia 36.5; 7. VMI 26.5; 8. Emory & Henry 22; 9. Ferrum 21; 10. Methodist 6; 11. Mary Baldwin 1.