Merrecia James ran a time of 18:53.83 to break a course record, held previously by her teammate Janeth Chelangat, to claim first place in the women’s race of the 2007 University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) Lid Lifter Invitational. Hawk freshman Amon Kiprotich ran 26 seconds over the men’s course record with a time of 25:26.26 and won the men’s race and led the Hawks to a second place finish.

In the women’s 3.1 mile course the Lady Hawks tallied just 32 points, edging out last year’s MEAC champions Hampton who scored 34 points. Betty Chumbe (20:24.15), newcomer Tamica Thomas (20:29.34) and Janeth Chelangat (20:55.44) finished sixth, seventh, and eighth respectively, posting times under 21 minutes and securing the win for the Hawks. Celia Whyte came home tenth overall with a time of 21:21.48.

Hampton’s Jahlisa Smith was second overall with a time of 19:03.43 while Jasmin Branch and Kenya Jones were fourth and fifth. Hampton also claimed 11th and 12th place respectively.

The University of the District of Columbia was third overall with their highest finisher, Stellan Sang, coming across third with a time of 19:05.01.

On the men’s side Kiprotich was dominant finishing ahead of Norfolk State star Hillary Cheruiyot who crossed with a time of 25:44.56. Despite a third place finish by the Hawk’s Peter Sang (26:09.96) Norfolk State claimed fourth, sixth eighth and ninth places to secure a win. They tallied 298 points on the five mile course with UMES just behind them with 38 points.

Solomon Kirongo was seventh with a time of 27:15.17 while newcomer Nathaniel Taylor was 13th with a time of 29:14.55. Samuel Mwangi, Jerome Pyuzza and Clayton James were 14th, 15th and 16th respectively.

Delaware State took third place with 68 points while U of D.C. was fourth. James Kichwen was fifth for U of D.C. while Sean Guy was DSU’s highest finisher at tenth.

The Hawks travel to Towson for their next meet on September 8, 2007.

Complete results of today’s meet are available at www.umeshawks.com