| The North Carolina A&T men’s and women’s outdoor track and field teams saw solid performances at both the Raleigh Relays hosted by North Carolina State University at Paul Derr Track and the Winthrop Adidas Invitational at Winthrop Irwin Belk Track and Field Complex. The Aggies had many freshmen debut in their respective events and several veterans setting personal records.
The sprinters and jumpers tackled the Raleigh competition while the distance runners and throwers were at Winthrop.
In Raleigh, nearly every Aggie finished top-10 in their respective event, including three Aggies finishing in the top-10 of the men’s 200 meters. Freshmen Rodney Rowe and Justin Hamilton gave strong debuts. Rowe finished second in the 200 with a time of 21.02 while Hamilton placed third in 21.07. Junior Christopher Belcher set his personal record at 21.29 – down from the 21.57 he saw the week before at Coastal Carolina – as he finished fifth in Raleigh.
In the women’s 200, sophomore India Brown led the Aggies with her second-place time of 23.87. Behind Brown, freshman Kayla White finished fifth and freshman Yakira Love finished eighth with respective times of 24.06 and 24.26. Love and Belcher also finished top-10 in the 100 as Love ran 12.08 for seventh and Belcher took sixth in 10.59 for a personal record (PR).
In jumps, junior Frank Quarles reached 24-feet, 9 3/4 -inches to secure second in the long jump invitational, while sophomore Nehemiah Lipford ascended 6-feet, 8-inches for third in the high jump. Freshman Lasheon Strozier placed sixth in the triple jump after reaching 49-feet, ¼ -inches, and for the women, sophomore Imani McGhee placed ninth in the long jump after leaping 18-feet, 1-inch.
In Rock Hill, the Aggies had three top-five performers. Junior Darren White was the highest-placing Aggie with his second-place finish of 9:38.39 in the 3000-meter steeplechase. Sophomore Corey Aiken took third in the men’s 800 with a time of 1:53.49 and sophomore Imani Coleman took fifth in the women’s 800 with her PR of 2:16.22. Coleman’s previous record was set in 2015 at 2:16.67. Another PR was set in the men’s 1500 as junior Perry Cabean secured eighth with a time of 4:03.96, down from the 4:05.89 he posted last year.
Debuting in their events were freshmen Hakeem Mustafaa, Anisa Toppin and Derrick Wheeler. Mustafaa placed ninth with his first run in the men’s 5000, clocking 15:51.19. Toppin claimed sixth in the women’s long jump after leaping 17-feet, 1 ½ -inches and Wheeler recorded a distance of 103-feet, 10 ¼ -inches in the men’s javelin throw.
The Aggies will travel to the University of Florida for the Pepsi Florida Relays on March 31- April 2. |
