Lady Pirates Third, Pirates Ninth In ECAC/IC4A Championships
BOSTON, Mass. - The Hampton University women's track & field team finished third in the ECAC Indoor Championships on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Boston University, while the men's track & field team came in ninth in the IC4A Indoor Championships.
The Lady Pirates finished with 40 points in the ECAC standings, while the Pirates wound up with 29 points in the IC4A standings.
Connecticut swept both team championships.
The Lady Pirates won all four events in which they had entered student-athletes, while the Pirates brought home a pair of titles.
The Lady Pirates also broke three school records.
Benita Taylor broke her own school record in winning the 800-meter run, turning in a 2:05.67. Le'Quisha Parker set a new school record in the 200-meter dash, winning the gold with a 23.54.
Breana Norman ran a facility-record 8.25 in winning the 60-meter hurdles.
The Lady Pirates 4x400-meter relay team broke the school record by over four seconds, running a 3:35.19 in winning the gold. Shantae Boney, Emmy Fraenk, Cydney Robinson, and Malekah Holland set the new mark.
The Pirates also broke three school records over the weekend.
Je'Von Hutchison broke his own school record in winning the 400-meter dash with a 46.74. Hutchison was also on the 4x400-meter relay team that set a new school record with a 3:10.07 to finish fourth.
Larry Ramirez, Mohamed Labor-Koroma, and Edose Ibadin were also on the relay squad.
Ibadin also broke his own school record in the 800-meter run, coming in fifth with a 1:50.64.
Trey Holloway won the 60-meter hurdles with a 7.86.
For the complete story, visit www.hamptonpirates.com.
Sogbesan Scores All Of Morgan's Points At ECAC Championships; Places In Top Five In 200, 400
BOSTON, Mass.-Morgan State's Ekundayo Sogbesan placed third and fourth, respectively, on Sunday in the 400 and 200 meter dashes on the final day of the ECAC Championships, hosted by Boston University at the BU Tennis & Track Center.
Sogbesan would score six points with her third-place finish in the 400 meter dash (53.67) and then ran a time of 24.18 in the 200 meter dash to place fourth and score five points.
Sogbesan's performance on Sunday single handedly gave the Lady Bears a total of 11 points, to help the Lady Bears finish tied with Northeastern for 28th-place.
Ranita Mealer would finish 10th in the shot put with a toss of 44-05.5.
Connecticut captured the ECAC title with 60.50 points, while George Mason finished second with 48 points. Fellow Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) foes Hampton took third-place with 40 points and Maryland Eastern Shore finished tied with Cornell for fifth-place with 32 points, behind fourth-place Albany (35 points). Crosstown rival Coppin State placed 21st with 15.5 points.
For the complete story, visit www.morganstatebears.com.
UMES Track & Field Shines In Boston At ECAC/IC4A Championships
BOSTON - The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) put on another solid showing at the ECAC and IC4A Track & Field Championships this past weekend in Boston. The Hawk women tied for fifth overall in the 53 woman ECAC field while the men tied for sixth in a 44 squad field in the IC4As. They nabbed three first place finishes as Lenora Guion-Firmin repeated as champion in the 400-meter dash, Gayon Evans took the 60-meter dash title and Andre Walsh retained his title in the 200-meter dash.
Several records fell in the meet as the Massachusetts track has traditionally treated the Hawks well. In particular, Walsh may have fared the best, earning two school records. The first in the 200-meter dash with his 20.88 time, besting the previous mark he set last year at the 2012 version of the meet, a 20.89. His 20.88 should qualify him for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships later this month in Arkansas. Walsh would also set a school record in the 60-meter dash, a 6.76, which was good enough for third overall in the race.
Zavior Brown also set a school record in the 800-meter run. He blistered his previous time, posting a 1:49.48, taking second overall. He broke the previous record of 1:49.58 set by Jason Mayers, also in Boston.
Guion-Firmin repeated as champion in the 400-meter dash with a 53.40 performance. Her time wasn't close to last season's 53.19 but the effort was extraordinary as Guion-Firmin was kicked in the heel early, causing her to stumble and lose valuable time. She recovered however to capture gold.
Personal bests were also a plenty as Gayon Evans took gold in the 60-meter dash with a 7.39 second performance. Evans started third in the preliminary round, was second in the semi-finals and climbed to first in the finals. She improved more than two tenths of a second from the first to final round.
Evans would also try to keep the 200-meter dash title in Princess Anne, the one that Guion-Firmin claimed last season. Evans started in fourth after the prelims but could only get as high as second in the finals with a 23.87, just over last season's 23.85.
Marcus Wallace ran a personal best, breaking the 22 second bar with a 21.48 in the 200-meters, good enough for 11th in the 43-man field. In the women's 800-meter run Emilie Ducados took 9th with a time of 2:12.22. Last season Cynthia Anais won the event.
MEAC Indoor Track Performer of the Year Petra Kubesova struggled in her first ECAC meet, taking 26th overall with a 17:37.15. She led the first 3,000 meters of the event, but she took off too fast and the field closed on her.
The quartet of Brandon Chatman, Wallace, Javon Spencer and Brown ran a season best of 3:14.82 in the men's 4 x 400-meter relay, good enough for 11th place overall.
In the field events the men were unable to repeat as champions in the triple jump. Last season Owen Cain took the title but Denvil Ruan wasnt able to capture gold, keeping a 14.26 to land in 11th place. In the women's side of the event MEAC champ Gerenda Williams finished 12th with an 11.73 meter jump.
Dillon Simon tossed a 17.75 meters in the shot to take third overall with counterpart Imani Cox taking 7th with a throw of 14.34 meters in the women's put. Lexia Robinson tossed 13.85 meters to finish 9th. Last season All-American Vanessa Henry won the event. Cox would also finish seventh in the weight throw with a toss of 17.78 meters while Robinson was 15th with a 15.92 meter heave.
For the complete story, visit www.umeshawks.com.
DSU's Stephen Bowe TakesS Fourth In IC4A 400-Meter Dash
Boston, Mass. - Delaware State University's Stephen Bowe took fourth place in the 400-meter dash at the 2013 IC4A Indoor Track & Field Championships at Boston University today.
Bowe posted a time of 47.32 seconds in the 400-meter final to earn five points for the Hornets. Je'von Hutchison of Hampton won the race with a time of 46.74 seconds.
Delaware State's Ryan Carter also competed in the 400-meter final, but did not finish in the top six.
Bowe qualified for the championship race with the fourth-best preliminary time of 47.58 seconds. Carter was third in the preliminaries at 47.38 seconds.
Carter also competed in the IC4A 200-meter dash championship after qualifying with a time of 21.23 seconds.
For the complete story, visit www.dsuhornets.com.