Forbes Wins at Penn State, McCammon Finishes 2nd

State College, Pa./ Chapel Hill, N.C.- The Aggies split up this weekend to compete in both the UNC Invitational in Chapel Hill and the Penn State Invitational in State Park, Pa.

For the second consecutive meet, senior Shakia Forbes won the women's long jump. Forbes won the Penn State Invitational long jump with leap of 20-feet, 1-inch.

Jenea McCammon placed second in the 500 meters with a time of 1:14.86. Sherice Walker participation in the pentathlon was also a new look for the Aggies during a regular-season meet.  Walker finished the 60 meter hurdles of the pentathlon in 8.82 seconds. In the long jump, she leaped  17-feet, 8-inches as she finished 10th in the pentathlon with 3,236 points.

Paris Simmons earned second in the 800 meters with time of 1:53.99.

Torrance Womack placed fourth with a time of 21.30.  Junior Earl House earned fifth in the 60 meter dash with a time of 6.76 and sixth in the 200 meter dash with a time of 22.06.

Senior D'Mitri Bouttry  finished 500 meters in 1:04.87 to place sixth.

Three different Aggies placed in the top six of the event with Kendrick Smith leading the way with a third-place finish (50-feet). Michael Brown placed fifth (49-feet, 3-inches) and Jared Baldwin rounded out the outstanding performances by placing sixth with a jump of 49-feet, 1-inch.

In Chapel Hill, four members of the men's and women's track and field team helped the Aggies earn seven top 10 finishes. 

Junior Janessa Benn had two fourth-place finishes. Benn completed the 800 meters in 2:25.60, and later finished the 1,000 meters in 5:15.40. Redshirt sophomore Sydni Cobb earned fourth place in the shot put with a throw of 43-feet, 6 ¾ inches.

Senior Steve Liggins led the men with two impressive performance in distance races. Liggins placed seventh in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:58.20. He had a sixth-place finish in the one-mile run, finishing in 4:25.00.

For the complete story visit www.ncataggies.com.

Rattlers Ride No.8 Ranking Into Niswonger Meet

JOHNSON CITY, TN- The FAMU Rattlers indoor track and field team took their last tuneup before the MEAC indoor championships in the Niswonger Invitational on the campus of East Tennessee State University at the Memorial Center.

In the Niswonger Invitational, several performances were of note. Jeremy Tillman earned a second place finish in the 60m dash in a time of 6.77.

Shelton Tarver had a successful day jumping as he finished third in the long jump (7.31m/23-06.75) and eighth in the triple jump (13.20m/43-03.75). Willie Johnson got into the act as well with a 7.10m leap in the long jump for fourth place. Johnson would get a third place finish in the high jump, carding a jump of 6-06.75.

In the 800m run, Owolabi Deji took third place in 1:53.76, while Lamere Buchanon placed sixth in 1:55.93. Shuaib Winters would also have a good showing in the 5000m run, where his time of 15:01.49 granted him fourth place.

Derrick Morgan finished the 400m dash placing fourth in the event. Niko Richey placed sixth in the 200m dash with a time of 22.06.

As a team, the Rattlers placed second in the 4x400m relay. The team of Richey, Emere, Morgan and Elijah Owens carded a 3:16.11.

For the complete story visit www.famuathletics.com.

Tessema, 4x400 Relay Win at Penn State

FAIRFAX and STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The men’s 4x400 meter relay team ran a season-best time en route to a first-place finish, while senior Josef Tessema set another school record for the NSU men’s track team on Saturday at the Penn State National.

The quartet of Keith Nkrumah, James Taylor, Kenneth Smith and Sean Holston finished in 3 minutes, 11.84 seconds, about a second and a half faster than its time the previous week at Virginia Tech.

Tessema, meanwhile, set a school record in the mile for the third straight year. Tessema posted a time of 4:09.79, some three seconds faster than his previous school-record time from last year in the same meet.

Holston ran a season-best time of 21.28 seconds to place fourth in the invitational section of the 200 meters.

On Saturday, Junior John James cleared a career indoor-best 6 feet, 10.75 inches to place fourth in the high jump. Fellow junior Vincent Brown ran a season-best time of 1:54.76 to finish fourth in the 800 meters.

On Friday at PSU, Nkrumah ran a time of 7.83 seconds in his semifinal heat. He tied for seventh in the finals in 7.91.

While part of the men’s team was at Penn State, the rest of the squad participated Saturday at the Patriot Games hosted by George Mason. The Spartans registered X top-five finishes, led by a runner-up finish by Erick Green in the 200 and third-place finishes by D’Sean Brown in the high and long jumps.

For the complete story visit www.nsuspartans.com.

Bethune-Cookman's Dunkley Sets 5k Record and Wildcats Notch Conference Qualifications on Split Weekend

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Wildcats split the team this weekend.  At Clemson, the Wildcats recorded three first-place finishes amidst 25 top-ten performances, led by freshman Kadian Dunkley, who moved among the top ten in the nation with her win in the 5000m. At Liberty, B-CU qualified three for the MEAC Championships in the multi-events.

Dunkley earned her first win of the season in the 5000m at Clemson, not only setting a personal record, but also a school record and moving into the number seven slot in NCAA Indoor with her time of 17:01.65 (time adjusted for track dimensions, from 17:06.65).

Freshman Pierre Strother made his bid for MEAC qualification, winning the men’s pole vault by overcoming a height of 3.70m (12-01.50 ft.).

Tallying B-CU’s third win of the meet was the men’s 4 x 400m relay (composed of Robert Horton, Garrett Ellis, Kemar Clarke, and Darnell Washington), finishing first in a time of 3:23.24. The women’s 4 x 400m also performed well, logging a third-place finish in 4:02.29 for the team of Sandricka Simmons, Ayerial Rouse, Alexus Grier, and Erika Graham.

For the Liberty Open, Nnamdi Davis led the Wildcats with a fifth place finish in the men’s heptathlon, collecting 3,960 points and winning the 60m dash and hurdles events.

In the women’s pentathlon, Deidra Jordan topped the team with 2,768 points and a seventh-place finish, coming in first in the high jump event.

The sprint athletes for both B-CU men and women turned in top-tier performances at the Clemson meet, with a combined 12 performers in the top ten among the three sprint events. Angelo Cabrera topped the men in the 60m dash, finishing third in a time of 6.94 seconds. In the women’s 60m, Keyona Thomas led the way, finishing sixth in 7.81.

Garrett Ellis turned in the top finish for B-CU’s sprinters in the 200m at second in a time of 22.47. Keyona Thomas led the women in the 200m, securing a MEAC Championships qualification with a sixth-place finish in 25.46.

Lavon McCoy earned sixth in the shot put with a distance of 12.45m (40-10.25 ft.). Desiree Richardson earned sixth in the women’s shot (11.80m/38-08.75 ft.) and also ninth in the weight throw (13.51m/44-04.00 ft.). Ricy Brown was eighth in the long jump with a leap of 6.22m (20-05.00 ft.).

For the complete story visit www.B-CUathletics.com.

Hampton Track Competes in Penn State National

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The Hampton University men’s and women’s track & field teams competed in the Penn State National Invitational this past Friday and Saturday at the Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track at the Ashenfelter Multi-Sport Facility.

The Pirates won an event title due to freshman Brien Berry running a 21.68 to take the 200-meter dash. Senior Reggie qualified for the NCAA Championships in March with a time of 6.60 during the preliminary heats of the 60-meter dash.

Dixon also ran a season-best 21.15 to come in second in the 200-meter dash invitational.

Sophomore Je’Von Hutchison turned in a 48.27 in the 400-meter dash to come in second, while freshman Mohamed Labor-Koroma came in third in the 500-meter dash with a 1:04.42.

The Pirates finished second in the 4x800-meter relay invitational with a season-best time of 7:40.23, while also running a school-record 10:05.91 to finish fourth in the distance medley relay.

Sophomore Breana Norman paced the Lady Pirates over the weekend, coming in third in both the 60-meter dash (season-best 7.49) and 200-meter dash (season-best 24.45).

The Lady Pirates came in second in the 4x400-meter relay with a season-best 3:43.60.

Senior Claudia Calder tallied a season-best 3,554 points to finish third in the women’s pentathlon, winning the final event – the 800-meter run – with a time of 2:18.33.

Sophomore Teiara Denmark (Virginia Beach, Va.) jumped a season-best 5.80 meters to finish fourth in the long jump, while senior Ermesha Fair (Chesapeake, Va.) came in sixth in the triple jump with a season-best mark of 11.92 meters.

For the complete story visit www.hamptonpirates.com.