Pirates Complete 11th Annual Bill Carson Invitational

Friday, March 28

Greenville, N.C.

East Carolina University

Bill Carson Invitational

March 29, 2025 | Track & Field

Results (PDF)Results (Web)

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The East Carolina track & field program hosted the 11^th Annual Bill Carson Invitational on Friday and Saturday at the Bate Foundation Track & Field Facility. The Pirates earned 10 event wins in the event.

In a break from tradition, team scores were not kept for the 2025 edition of the meet.

The Pirates got off to a strong start during the first day of competition on Friday with four event champions across the men's and women's teams.

In the throws, Shakiel Dacres took the men's discus and Jocelyn Pringle took the women's hammer throw, both in new lifetime bests. Dacres throw of 53.16m (174-5) improves upon his position, already holding the No. 6 spot in program history while for Pringle, a throw of 58.93m (193-4) is good for a personal best by more than five meters and seventh in program history. The ECU women went 1-2-3 in the women's hammer with Lydia Simmons and A'riana Cumpler taking second and third.

In the jumps, Jared Harrell returned to competition with a splash and a victory in the men's long jump with a mark of 7.16m (23-6).

Emma Hall also made her mark on Friday with a victory in the 400m hurdles in a time of 1:00.81, good for eighth in ECU history.

The Pirates saw similar success on day two on Saturday with six event victories and several more historical marks for the program. Ironically, the two were not coincidental.

Brandon Gayle highlighted the day with his 17.07m (56-0) toss in the weight throw which was good for fourth in program history, but just shy of making him victorious. Hall, after her success in the 400m hurdles on day one, also notched a program top-10 mark with her 13.79 second effort in the 100m hurdles, ninth in program history.

Though, some Pirates did get their wins atop major PRs. Faith Spencer leapt her way to victory while moving into fifth all time in the triple jump with a mark of 12.62m (41-0.5).

Others just flat out won. On the track, Kaylee McCullough went 1-2 in the 5,000m with Erin Pope, taking the victory in a time of 17:29.46 while Amaya Pleas also pulled a 1-2 sweep with Natalie Mial in the 400m with her winning time of 56.08. That result was a PR for Pleas.

Pleas finished her day and the meet as part of a 4x400m team with Kamoy Campbell, Hall and Kailey Elliott taking the victory in a time of 3:42.97.

On the men's side, Alex Sawyer won the 800m smoothly in his first race since topping The American in the mile at the conference championships, racing to a time of 1:53.80.

Back in the field events, Sarah Smith rounded out the victorious Pirates with her 3.53m (11-7) clearance in the pole vault. The win was Smith's second in a row at the Bill Carson Invitational.

Up Next
The Pirates return to action on April 4-5 at the Florida Relays.