Hurricanes Set For Final Day of Georgia Tech Invitational
May 14, 2010
ATLANTA – The University of Miami track and field teams – with a No. 14 national ranking on the women’s side – completed the first day of action at the Georgia Tech Invitational on Friday at Griffin Track.
Junior Ti’erra Brown, currently ranked No. 2 in the NCAA in both the 100 and 400m hurdles, ran the fastest time in the 100 hurdles preliminary heats at 12.82 seconds. The Hampton, Va. native will compete in both the 100 and 400m hurdle finals on Saturday.
Ashley Dukes ran a personal-best time of 11.52 seconds in the preliminary heat of the 100m dash and advanced to Saturday’s 4 p.m. final. Dukes is the only collegiate competitor to advance and former Hurricane Murielle Ahoure will join her in the final heat.
Brittni Finch won the second of three flights in the long jump, reaching her second-best mark of the year at 6.04m (19-09.75). Finch will also participate in the triple jump on Saturday.
The Jameson sisters are ranked in the 400m hurdles and each will also run a leg of the 4×400 relay. Tameka is ranked 10th in the 400m hurdles with a season-best time of 57.57 seconds. Takecia is ranked 18th in the event.
The 4×100 relay team of Dukes, Charlene Fuller, Kristy Whyte and Tarika Williams will look to improve upon Miami’s No. 18 ranking in the event on Saturday. All but Dukes will also compete in the 200m dash.
Megan Novinger, who will compete in the high jump, is looking to improve upon her season-best mark of 1.80m (5-10.75), which ranks second all-time in school history.
With a time of 10.57 seconds, Travis Benjamin tied for the last qualifying spot in the 100m dash prelim, but Union College’s Armond Smith earned the finals berth.
Even with the third-best collegiate time at 13.89 seconds, Devon Hill came just short of advancing to the 110m hurdle final on Saturday.
Senior Cory Nelms, who won the ACC Championship in the 110m hurdles, will be competing individually in the 400m hurdles.
Benjamin, Brandon McGee, Lamar Miller and DeMarcus Van Dyke are all scheduled to run and in the 4×100 relay. Earlier this season, the men ran the fastest relay for a Miami 4×100 team in 12 years, when it won the event at the Hurricane Alumni Invitational on April, 10, with a time of 40.15 seconds.
The `Canes top middle distance runner, Brian Laskowski will compete in the 800m dash Saturday at 1:35 p.m.
This weekend is the final opportunity for student-athletes to qualify for the NCAA Regional Championships. For the second consecutive season, the East Regional will be held in Greensboro, N.C., May 27-29.
For daily recaps and posted results of the Georgia Tech Invitational, please visit hurricanesports.com throughout the weekend.
