Morse Breaks 17 Year-Old School Record
Feb. 27, 2009
BLACKSBURG, Va. – In the second day of competition at the ACC Indoor Championships at Virginia Tech’s Rector Field House, junior Mikese Morse broke the University of Miami’s long standing long jump record.
Morse earned All-ACC status with a runner-up finish in the long jump. His mark of 7.90m set a new school record, besting Horace Copeland’s 17 year-old mark. With the automatic qualifying mark reached, Morse is guaranteed a spot at the NCAA Indoor Championships in two weeks.
“I am very pleased with Mikese’s effort,” said director of track and field Amy Deem. “He is really coming around and it was great to see him get his personal best and the school record.”
For the 17th-ranked women, junior Deandra Doyley set her career-best mark in the indoor long jump at 6.15m. Her leap was good for a fourth place finish, scoring five points for Hurricanes.
With the fastest time in the preliminary round, senior Murielle Ahoure will race in the finals of the 60-meter dash after running a 7.21, her sixth automatic qualifying time of the season. Junior Kristy Whyte will join Ahoure as she ran her season-best time of 7.48.
Ahoure also set an ACC Indoor Championships record with her performance in the 200-meter preliminaries, running at 23.27 seconds. Whyte will also be in the 200-meter final after running her career-best time of 23.80.
“It is a great accomplishment to break a meet record and I am very happy for Murielle,” said Deem.
Sophomore Ti’erra Brown advanced to tomorrow’s final in the 60-meter hurdles with her fifth provisional time of the season at 8.35 seconds.
Brown and sophomore Tameka Jameson advanced to the finals of the 400-meter dash with times of 55.28 and 55.60. It was the first attempt of the season for Brown.
Sophomore Megan Novinger matched her career-best mark by reaching a height of 1.70m in the high jump, tying her for sixth place overall.
For the men, junior Cory Nelms advanced to Saturday’s final with a career-best time of 7.97 second in the 60-meter hurdle preliminary heat. His time was the fastest of all 16 competitors.
After six events on the women’s side, Miami currently sits in 10th place with seven points, but will look to make a big move in the standings in the final day of competition. The men are in ninth place with eight points.
“We are very excited about going into tomorrow,” added Deem.
Tomorrow’s events begin at 10 a.m. with the men’s high jump and will conclude with the men’s 4×400 relay at 3:40 p.m.
