Kaczka leads T&F at New Mexico Classic
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Miami Track &Field set records in the final day of competition at the New Mexico Classic.
Greg Kaczka set a new school record in themile, finishing in 4:08.22. The senior built off his personal best two weeksago at the Auburn Invitational to finish fifth overall in the men’s mile at NewMexico.
“Ithought Greg ran a real tough race,” said AmyDeem, Miami’s Director of Track and Field and Cross Country. “He ran toughfrom start to finish. I’m happy for him to get the school record.”
Isaiah Simmons continued his strong season.After placing second in the two previous meets, the redshirt freshman won themen’s shot put for the first time in his young career. Simmons’ throw of 58’8″ traveled nearly six feet further than the second place finisher.
“I’mreally proud of Isaiah,” Deem said. “He’s performing really well and it was agood win for him. We look for him to do really good things in the coming weeks.”
Junior Alaine Tate had a strong showing in NewMexico. A day after finishing second in the 600m, Tate finished second in thewomen’s 800m run with a time of 2:10.91.
“Alainehas been running strong for us,” Deem said. “I thought she had a good weekend.Getting second behind Taneisha last night in the 600 and running tough again todayin the 800, I’m proud of what she did.”
Jamika Glades alsostepped up for the women, placing fifth in the 60m hurdles. The freshman, whoran the hurdles in 8.64 seconds, finished three-tenths of a second behind thewinner.
Junior Alyssa McClure,who won her preliminary 60m heat, finished fifth in the final with a time of7.51 seconds. Senior All-American Samantha Williams placed fourth overall in thewoman’s triple jump with a mark of 40′ 9.75″.
A pair of Miami football stars also made animpact in New Mexico. A day after winning the men’s 200m, Phillip Dorsett finishedthird in the 60m final with a personal-best time of 6.80 seconds.
Freshman Duke Johnsonmade his collegiate track debut and won his preliminary heat in the 60m. Thefootball standout qualified for the final, where he posted a time of 6.98seconds.
Innocent Jacob and John-Patrick Friday bothfinished in the top 10 in the men’s long jump. Jacob’s distance of 23′ rankedsixth, while Friday covered 22′ 4.25″ to finish ninth. Timothy Richardsonfinished 12th with a distance of 22′ 2.25″.
While Deem was pleased with Miami’sperformance overall, she would like to see the Hurricanes maintain theirintensity level more consistently.
“Ithought we had a lot of intensity,” Deem said. “We performed very well thefirst day, but we need to improve on our finish the second day. I want to seeus have that same intensity throughout the meet and not just one day.”
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