| The 2016 Aggie Last Chance Meet at North Carolina A&T’s Irwin Belk Track was a full-day event on May 15 as several hundred athletes flooded the Irwin Belk Track in an attempt to reach qualifying marks for the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round (east regional) and Olympic Trials.
“I think it was good quality competition,” said director of track and field programs Duane Ross. “It’s definitely been the biggest meet we’ve had since I’ve been here.”
There were five personal records posted by the N.C. A&T men’s and women’s outdoor track and field teams even though there were no Aggies added to the east regional qualifying list. The lone victor of the day was junior Darren White who posted a 9:21.58 personal record (PR) in the 3000-meter steeplechase, outdoing his previous best of 9:28.66. In middle distance, sophomore Steve Stowe posted a PR in the 800 meters, finishing in 1:53.97 to best his previous PR of 1:55.56. Ross said he was happy to see Stowe end the season on a good note. Also on the men’s distance side, freshman Hakeem Mustafaa competed in the 1500 for the first time and finished eighth in 4:14.72.
The men’s sprinters also had some success. In the men’s 100, freshman Rodney Rowe posted a 10.50 that earned him third. Junior Caleb Gabriel delivered his best 100 of 2016 with a 10.52 for fourth place. Separate from his teammates, junior Maurice Eaddy ran in the 100 invitational, designated for Olympic hopefuls, and finished fifth in 10.44. Jumping for the Aggie men, sophomore Nehemiah Lipford elevated 6-feet, 7-inches in the high jump for fifth, and sophomore Aaron Deane landed a triple jump of 43-feet, 6 ½-inches for 14th.
Freshman Kayla White stood out among the women’s sprinters by running a PR of 11.52 in the 100 preliminaries before finishing second in the finals with an 11.54 sprint. Freshman teammate Yakira Love also had a PR in the 100 by running an 11.76 to finish fourth in the finals ahead of her previous-best, 11.84. The women’s 4x100 relay team of Love, White, sophomore Morgan Knight and sophomore India Brown finished second in 45.75.
Sophomore Miranda Green highlighted the distance running on the day for the women by running a 5:09.69 in the 1500. Sophomore Imani Abraham stood out in the field events for the ladies as she tossed a PR of 141-feet in the hammer throw, adding nearly four inches to her previous best throw (137-feet, 3-inches). |
