Signal Mountain High School's Becca Umbarger starts out the Class A-AA 4x800 Meter Relay during the 2016 TSSAA Track and Field Tennessee State Championships at MTSU in Murfreesboro, TN., on May 26, 2016. The Lee University track and field and cross country programs should continue their surge of recent years with the 2016-17 recruits announced this week by coach Caleb Morgan, including the biggest recruiting class in Lady Flames history. One of those is former TSSAA champion pole vaulter Nicolette Gordon from Chattanooga Christian School, transferring from Kentucky.
"Nicolette struggled with injuries this past season at Kentucky. She will enter Lee as a redshirt freshman," Morgan said in the Lee release. "She is someone we are counting on to qualify for nationals indoor and outdoor."
One of the true freshmen is Becca Umbarger from Signal Mountain, who runs the 1600- to 5000-meter distances and has been part of three state champion teams both in cross country and track.
"She is good at every distance event. She will be a big asset to us on the cross country course," Morgan said.
Other new Lady Flames are hurdler and 400- and 800-meter runner Jordan Allison of Pelham, Ala.; 800- to 5000-meter runner Charlee Boxall from Australia, where she was a six-time state champion in multiple distances, by way of Shorter University; four-time state champion high jumper Hannah Buttolph from Middlebury, Vt.; sprinter, long jumper and triple jumper Skyleah Catlin and weight thrower Camilla Sims from Maynard Jackson High School in Atlanta; and distance runners Mercy Chepchumba from Kenya, Cassidy Devenouges and Blakely Moore from North Carolina and Lily Fell and Madison Hodges from Michigan.
"We have brought in a number of distance runners who we believe will make us a contender for this year's GSC championship," said Morgan, also predicting NCAA Division II Top 25 potential next spring in track.
Middle distance runner Moises Pence from Dalton High School is one of seven Lee men's recruits for 2016-17.
"Moises has made drastic progressions in his running each year," Morgan said. "He is one of the fastest 800-meter runners we have brought in out of high school."
The other new Flames are 10-time all-state long jumper and hurdler Derek Flatford of Anderson County (Tenn.); KIL champion hurdler Riley Honken from Hardin Valley High; jumper, hurdler and all-state decathlete Jonathan Mann of Trussville, Ala.; and distance runners Christian Noble of Fortville, Ind.; Tucker Hindle of Boca Raton, Fla.; and Thomas Kelton of Denham Springs, La.
Noble was a Foot Locker national cross country qualifier and ranked No. 16 in the United States last fall, when Hindle was the Florida state champion.