BLACKSBURG, VA – The Buccaneers concluded Day One of the Big South Indoor Championships on Friday evening with the team pulling out a lot of huge performances in the men's distance events to close the day. Sam Waldin and the DMR each took first in the event finals on the track to end the first day of competition.
 
Waldin collected the first individual title of the weekend for Charleston Southern in the men's 5K with an incredible closing 200 to pull away from the lead group of three. At the 4K mark, there were still eight runners within a few seconds of each other, but Adam Hessler, Hunter Steinau and Waldin ramped up the pace to leave the others for the final kilometer. Waldin's final lap of 27.85 proved to be the difference. The Bucs also had Caleb Kenyon, Jordan Smith and Conan Harper score in the event with them taking fourth, fifth and seventh.
 
In the DMR, the team started with Zack Wedding who gave them a lead that the rest of the group never let go off. Luciano Custodio had the ensuing leg, followed by Steven McCartney who kept the speed up. Jaden Kingsley closed the race with his 1600 and cruised into the finish line to seal the victory and ten points towards the team's total score. They finished with a time of 10:09.75 for 5^th in school history.
 
The lone field event that the Buccaneers had people competing in was the shot put. Charleston Southern had all three of their competitors score in it with Michael Calhoun taking a podium spot at third in it. His best throw was 16.77m. Odin Ferency and Aaron Pierce took 5^th and 6^th in the event with each throwing for a personal best. Ferency went for 15.57m and Pierce 15.12m which place them in 4^th and 5^th all-time for Charleston Southern in the event now.
 
Also, around the track, Gus Cortezi had an impressive first race at a Championship meet. He advanced to tomorrow's final in the 60m hurdles with a personal best time of 8.753 for 7^th.
 
Shawn Langley Jr. and Custodio each ran well in the 400 to advance to the finals for that event. Langley had a season-best time of 47.77 for the top one in the prelims while Custodio had a 48.98 for fourth.
 
Carl Murray IV had the fastest time in the first round of the 60m as he recorded a personal best time of 6.72 in the event. This mark moves him up to a tie for 2^nd all-time in CSU history for the event.
 
Jack McGahey went through for the 800m with a narrow personal best time of 1:55.01 to take the third fastest time in the opening round of the event.
 
Langley also had a quality outing for the 200m with a time of 21.39 for second through the prelims. Murray was scheduled to advance as well but was DQ for stepping outside of his lane.
 
Charleston Southern returns to the track tomorrow to finish off the Big South Championship on day two of the meet. The Bucs currently are 2^nd overall in the field with 44 points trailing High Point at 65 through six events.