Miami Long Jumpers Shine in Final Day Of Hurricane Invitational
March 21, 2009
CORAL GABLES – The University of Miami concluded the three day Hurricane Invitational with impressive performances by its long jumpers, Mikese Morse on the men’s side and Deandra Doyley for the women, Saturday at Cobb Stadium.
Morse, who is a week removed from an All-American showing at the NCAA Indoor National Championships, reached a regional qualifying mark in the first meet of the outdoor season. His leap of 7.62m (25-00.00) was good enough for the victory.
For the women, Doyley led a trio of long jumpers with a season-opening victory, reaching 6.06m (19-10.75.) The junior was followed by two freshmen, Brittni Finch and Britney Clark, who finished second and third respectively, with marks of 5.81m (19-00.75) and 5.59m (18-04.25).
“I thought Mikese and Deandra had good opening marks to the season,” said director of track and field Amy Deem. “It was very nice to see Mikese get a regional mark.”
Sophomore Tameka Jameson reached a regional qualifying time in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:00.61. For the men, junior Cory Nelms was the runner-up in the event, narrowly missing out on a regional qualifying time at 52.93 seconds.
Nelms, who won the 60-meter hurdle conference championship, also ran in the 110-meter hurdles, finishing with a time of 14.58 seconds. However, freshman Devon Hill performed well in his first outdoor collegiate meet, edging his teammate at 14.45 seconds for a second place finish.
“I felt that the hurdles were just a little rusty,” added Deem. “I think that with a couple more weeks of practice, we will be putting up better results. But I am glad that Tameka was able to get the regional time, it’s always a good thing to get that early in the season.”
Nene Kamate ran an impressive race in the 400-meter dash, crossing the line at 55.97 seconds. She was the sixth overall finisher but was the first collegiate runner to complete the race.
“It was great to see Nene run strong race to open the season,” said Deem.
Miami’s 4×100-meter relay team, consisting of Doyley, Kristy Whyte, Tara Thomas and Nene Kamate was the first collegiate team to cross the line, at 46.03.
Senior Patrick O’Donnell was the second collegiate runner to finish in the 800-meter run, at 1:54.55. His teammate, freshman Brian Laskowski finished right behind him at 1:56.63.
“I though this was a solid opening meet,” said Deem. “We look forward to improving on what we have done here this week as the season moves forward.”
The Hurricanes will be back in action next Saturday, March 28 at the UCF Invitational in Orlando.
