Clendenning's leap gave Elon its first individual SoCon champion in any sport since the Phoenix began competition in the conference in the fall of 2003. The junior vaulter earns All-Southern Conference accolades in her event for the fifth time in six seasons, having achieved that status three times indoors (2004, 2005 and 2006) and twice outdoors (2005 and 2006).

Clendenning (pictured above) finished .30 meters ahead of Appalachian State duo Caren Mah and Shea Snow, who each vaulted to a height of 3.35 meters. Susan Shore also scored in the event for the Phoenix, leaping to a distance of 3.05 meters to snag eighth place. Clendenning holds the Elon outdoor record in the pole vault at 3.70 meters, set earlier this month.

Elon received 11 points from its pole vaulters en route to racking up 21 total team points after the first day of the two-day event. Appalachian State (81 points), host Georgia Southern (33) and Chattanooga (24) hold the top three places in the 10-team competition. The Citadel (18), Western Carolina (15), Davidson (11), College of Charleston (11), Wofford (10) and Furman (10) have all scored in double digits already.

Also scoring points for the Phoenix, Katelyn Ealer ran to fourth place out of 13 athletes in the 10000-meter run while Anna Mae Flynn finished fifth and Colleen McCarthy ended up eighth out of 16 runners in the 3000-meter steeplechase. Ealer (38:29.48) broke her own Elon record (38:37.59) from earlier this month, narrowly finishing behind third-place finisher Ellen Davis (38:29.37) of Chattanooga.

Flynn crossed the finish line with a time of 11:25.29, surpassing the five-year-old program plateau of 11:39.54, set by Carolynne Erwin on April 20, 2001. McCarthy was clocked at 11:43.86, less than five seconds shy of the old school record.

Alana Black broke her own two-week-old Elon record in the 800-meter run during the preliminaries. Black's time of 2:11.88 marked the best performance turned in by any of the 26 athletes in the four heats, granting her the top ranking entering Sunday's final. She scurried to a then-record time of 2:13.02 at the Carolina Fast Times meet on April 15 at North Carolina. Elon's Chavanne Hubbard placed second in her heat at 2:17.67, but missed qualifying for the final.

The Phoenix trio of Dominique Price (12.61 seconds), Alice Turner (12.81) and Danielle Simmons (13.15) each finished fourth in their respective heat of the preliminaries of the 100-meter dash. Price (14.36 seconds) sprinted to third place in her heat of the 100-meter hurdles preliminaries, qualifying for Sunday's final. Price (26.13 seconds) also placed fourth in her heat of the 200-meter dash preliminaries while Turner (1:03.09) was third in her heat of the 400-meter hurdles prelims, qualifying for the final on Sunday.