Saturday, January 24, 2009

LYNCHBURG, Va. (Jan. 24, 2009) - Junior Nic Chernikow (Seymour, Tenn.) etched his name into the ETSU record books this weekend, as he set a new school record in the heptathlon at the Liberty Open, located on the Tolsma Indoor Track.

Chernikow, who broke Mike Wright's previous mark in the event by 192 points, finished third overall with 4770 points. Wright set his record at the 2007 Atlantic Sun Conference Championships, scoring 4578 points. Liberty's Daniel Newell won the event with 5346 points and Appalachian State's Matt Boruff came in second (4840 points).

Meanwhile, Chernikow's teammate and fellow junior Jordan Briggs (Erwin, Tenn.), set a personal best by scoring 4242 points and finished eighth overall.

"This meet was a good starting point for both Nic and Jordan, but both of them know they still have a lot to work on in order to improve," commented assistant coach Eli Sunquist. "Both Nic and Jordan scored well in their top event areas, but they need to continue achieving better results in the other events."

Following Friday night's first four events, Chernikow bagged 2622 points, and was 433 points behind Liberty's Daniel Newell (3055 points) in fifth place. Meanwhile, Briggs ended the day in the 13^th after tallying 2269 points.

However, both Buccaneer athletes made some adjustments and moved up the standings on Saturday.

Chernikow was able to make his move in the 60-meter hurdles; while the hurdles and pole vault were the two big events for Briggs.

The Seymour, Tenn. native won the hurdles by finishing with a top time of 8.63 and collected 829 points, where as, Briggs placed fourth with a time of 9.09 (726 points).

Briggs' best finish on the day came in the pole vault - where he finished in a tie for third after ending with a mark of 13-11.25 (4.25m).

Chernikow collected half his points on Friday night in the 60-meter dash and long jump. The Seymour, Tenn. native finished second in both events, tallying 844 points in the 60m and 659 points in the long jump. The junior standout ended with a time of 7.11 in the 60m and posted a mark of 20-09.25 (6.33m) in the long jump.

On Friday, Briggs' best events came in the long jump and high jump - where he totaled 1188 points. The Erwin, Tenn. native finished right behind his Buccaneer teammate in the long jump (third), leaping 20-06.50 (6.26m). Then, Briggs had a solid performance in the high jump, as he notched 544 points with a mark of 5-07 in the high jump.

The Buccaneer track and field team returns to action next weekend when they compete in the 31st Niswonger Invitational. The two-day meet begins Friday, Jan. 30 inside Memorial Center.

For more information on Buccaneer track and field, visit www.ETSUBucs.com.