Southeast Missouri State's Carter grabs All-American status in long jump

Southeast Missouri State sophomore Blake Carter became the Redhawks' second track & field All-American in two days.

Carter earned his third school record this year and finished 10th in the long jump Thursday night at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore.

The top eight in each event are designated first-team All-American, with the next eight making second-team All-American.

Carter tied Southeast's record for the outdoor long jump with a distance of 25 feet, 6 1/4 inches. The graduate of Fort Zumwalt North High School in O'Fallon, Mo., also holds the school indoor long jump record and the indoor 60-meter dash mark.

Carter, who earned second-team All-American honors during the indoor season by placing 13th in the long jump at the national meet, just missed out on advancing to Thursday night's finals.

The top nine from the first round made the finals and Carter tied for the ninth-best mark after the opening round but was edged out because he fouled on his other two attempts.

"Blake had a very good meet. He showed up and tied a school record and I'm proud of how hard he competed," Southeast coach Eric Crumpecker said in a release. "He had a tremendous year, breaking three school records between the indoor and outdoor seasons. The great thing is that he has two years left and is just scratching the surface of how good he can be. He will get back to this stage."

Southeast sophomore Kevin Farley stamped himself as a first-team All-American Wednesday by placing seventh in the shot put.

Southeast now has six outdoor track & field All-Americans since the program moved to Division I prior to the 1992 outdoor season.

Before this week, Southeast's most recent outdoor All-American had been world-class 400-meter runner Miles Smith in 2008.

The Redhawks will try to make it three-for-three in All-Americans tonight when sophomore Reggie Miller Jr., the Redhawks' third national qualifier, competes in the high jump.