Young Hurricanes Show Their Stuff at UCF Invitational
March 28, 2009
ORLANDO – The University of Miami track and field teams, featuring many first and second year student-athletes competed in the second and final day of the UCF Invitational at the UCF Track and Field Complex.
Of the 25 competitors that traveled to Orlando this weekend, 17 were in their first or second years at the University of Miami.
“This meet was about our younger student-athletes gaining experience,” said director of track and field Amy Deem. “This meet really gave us a chance to get competition for our freshmen and sophomores.”
For the second straight week, freshman Devon Hill had an impressive performance in the 110-meter hurdles. Hill was the second collegiate performer to cross the line with a time 14.37, an improvement over his time recorded at the Hurricane Invitational. In his first collegiate showing in the 400-meter hurdles, the Trenton, N.J. native placed fifth with a time of 56.72.
On the women’s side, junior Nene Kamate made her season-debuts in the 100 and 200-meter dashes. With a time of 11.94 in the 100 and 24.06 in the 200, the Jamaica, N.Y. native crossed the finish line quicker than in all her attempts a year ago.
Among the upper-classmen, senior Jacob Cohen, bettered last week’s performance at the Hurricane Invitational, reaching a mark of 4.29m (14-00.75), Saturday afternoon in the pole vault.
Senior Patrick O’Donnell (49.57) was the first of five Hurricanes to finish line in the 400-meters. Joining the Salem, Mass. native in the event were freshmen Brian Laskowski, Evan Hadrick, Anthony Kieron, and Evan Byrnes.
Senior Ena Leufroy raced to a second place finish in the women’s 800-meters at 2:13.46. Freshmen Janet Price and Jennifer Estime also competed in the event.
Price led sophomores Emma Steppe and Katharine Woodard across the finish line in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:52.39. In the same event for the men, senior Vince Giambanco ran to a fourth-place finish at 4:10.72.
“Our goal was met in getting experience under our belts, especially since the ACC Championships are only three weeks away,” added Deem.
Miami will head to Gainesville next Friday, April 3 to compete in the Florida Relays on the campus of the University of Florida
