Benjamin, Hill Break School Records at McCravy Memorial
Jan. 29, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Juniors Travis Benjamin and Devon Hill etched their names into the University of Miami record books Saturday with stellar performances in the 60m dash and 60m hurdles respectively at the University of Kentucky’s McCravy Memorial.
Benjamin, running in his first track meet of the season along with fellow football student-athletes Lamar Miller and Brandon McGee, broke Santana Moss’ 11-year-old school record in the final heat of the 60m dash with a time of 6.70 seconds. In his preliminary heat, the Belle Glade, Fla. native tied Moss’ record with a time of 6.70 seconds.
“Travis beat a solid field in his first indoor meet of the season,” said Director of Track and Field Amy Deem. “He has been sprinting well for us and he deserves to have the school record.”
Miller and McGee both advanced to the finals as well, where they placed fifth and eight respectively with times of 6.79 and 6.83 seconds.
Hill, who in the season-opener finished just .01 seconds shy of his own school record in the 60m hurdles, broke through in his finals heat as he crossed the finish line in 7.77 seconds – .01 seconds better than his previous record.
“We had strong performances in the sprints and hurdles today,” said Deem. “Devon is improving every meet and I believe he will run under 7.70 in the next few weeks.”
Junior Tarika Williams also had a great day as she won the 60m dash and was the top collegiate finisher in the 200m dash. Her time of 7.38 seconds in the 60 was good enough for fifth place in the school record books. She finished the 200m dash in 23.80 seconds.
“I am very proud of Tarika’s performances today,” added Deem. “Coming from junior college, she didn’t run a lot of indoor track and she is going to keep improving.”
Megan Novinger is moving up in her senior season. The high jumper cleared 1.76m (5-09.25) on Saturday, finishing third. However, the mark propelled her into second place in school history, behind only former Hurricane Viktoria Andonova in Miami’s Top 5.
In his debut in the one mile run this season, sophomore Greg Kaczka raced to a finish of 4:16.10.
At the Clemson Challenge, Jason Johnson leapt to a then personal-best 6.93m (22-09.00) in claiming his first collegiate victory. On Saturday, he reached a new personal-best with a fifth-place mark of 6.96m (22-10.00).
In her first collegiate 800m run, freshman Thandi Stewart ran to a 2:11.01 finish – the second-best performance of the day.
Another freshman – Lindsi Arrington – cracked UM’s Top 5 list when she ran the mile run in 5:04.60.
The Hurricanes’ 4×400 relay team of Stewart, Tameka Jameson, Jennifer Estime and Takecia Jameson ran a season-best time of 3:41.02 to claim second place.
“I thought our team had a very solid meet today at Kentucky,” concluded Deem. “As a coaching staff, we want to get better each week leading into the ACC Championship at the end of February.”
Miami return to action next weekend when it heads to Blacksburg, Va. to take part in the Virginia Tech Invitational, Feb. 4-5.
You can follow all University of Miami teams on Twitter by visiting http://api.twitter.com/hurricanesports or follow just track and field and cross country at http://twitter.com/MiamiTrack. Visit hurricanesport.com and University of Miami Track and Field/Cross Country on facebook to get all the up-to-date news and information on the track and field and cross country teams.
