No. 16 Canes Start Strong at The Armory
NEW YORK – The University of Miami track and field program made its presence known on the opening day of the 2016 Armory Track Invitational.
The Hurricanes had several student-athletes post personal and season best times on the track, while several Canes were excellent in the field events.
Shakima Wimbley won the women’s 400m dash with a time of 52.90 seconds, breaking 53 seconds for the first time this season. Fellow junior Aiyanna Stiverne placed seventh with a season-best time of 54.14 seconds and freshman Brittny Ellis was 10th with a season-best time of 54.77 seconds.
Ebony Morrison heads to Saturday’s women’s 60m hurdles final as the top seed after running a semifinal time of 8.26 seconds. Morrison, who posted the fastest preliminary time in a group of 73 competitors in the women’s 60m hurdles (8.32, was one of three Canes to reach the semifinals. Stefani Kerrison (8.49) and Jamika Glades (8.58) also earned spots in the semis, but did not advance to the final after each ran semifinal times of 8.47 seconds.
Freshman Myles Valentine advanced to the finals in the men’s 60m dash after posting a time of 6.72 seconds in the semifinals that tied him for second in UM history with Hurricanes football and track standout Santana Moss. Valentine, who reached the semis after running a time of 6.84 seconds in preliminaries, will be the fourth seed in the men’s 60m final on Saturday.
Carolyn Brown and Trishelle Leacock each ran personal-best times in the women’s 60m semifinals, with Brown running a 7.63 and Leacock finishing in 7.68 seconds. Brown and Leacock reached the semifinals after running preliminary times of 7.70 seconds and 7.90 seconds, respectively.
Sean Grossman finished with personal-best a time of 15:07.51 in the men’s 5000m, improving his 5000m personal-best by 29 seconds.
Miami also made some noise in the field events, especially in the men’s long jump where one Cane made a big impact in his first competitive action in years.
Innocent Jacob finished second in the men’s long jump with a mark of 7.36m. Jacob, who had not competed since the 2013 outdoor season, tied his personal-best mark that ranks fifth in UM history.
Tiffany Okieme placed third in the women’s shot put with a throw of 15.32m, while Taylor Gunn finished 15th with a mark of 12.81m and Zakiya Rashid finished 17th with a mark of 12.29m. On the men’s side, Daniel Polinski placed 12th with a mark of 15.84m.
Sophomore Nick Catchur placed eighth in the men’s pole vault invitational with a mark of 4.70m.
The 2016 Armory Track Invitational will be broadcast live from The New Balance Track & Field Center at The Armory in New York City on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 5-6. The broadcast is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. ET on Saturday. The broadcast will be available on ArmoryTrack.com and will require a RunnerSpace+plus subscription.
Following this weekend’s action in New York, the Hurricanes will compete at two different meets: The Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., on Feb 12-13 and the LSU High Performance Meet in Baton Rouge, La., on Feb. 13. Next weekend will serve as the final competition for the Hurricanes before the ACC Indoor Championships on Feb. 25-27 in Boston.
For all the latest information on the Miami Hurricanes, follow the official Twitter feed, @MiamiHurricanes, or “Like Us” on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/MiamiHurricanes. Follow @CanesTrack on Twitter for specific news on UM track and field and cross country. The program is also on Instagram.
