@CanesTrack Sets Records at Tom Jones Meet
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Miami track and field program had a record setting day at the 2016 Tom Jones Memorial Invitational Friday.
Despite a lightning delay and several showers throughout the meet, the Hurricanes excelled on the track and in the field events. Miami set two school records and posted several of the best times and marks in UM history.
“This has always been a challenging weekend for us with it being the last week of classes and getting ready for final exams,” Miami director of track and field/cross country Amy Deem said. “As a coaching staff, you never really know what you’re going to get this weekend. It was a good day. I saw a lot of good things. We are getting better and close to where we need to be heading into ACCs in a few weeks.”
Isaiah Simmons set a new school record in the men’s shot put, earning a victory with a throw of 19.00m, while John-Patrick Friday set a school record in the men’s triple jump with a mark of 15.80m that placed him fourth in the competition.
Ebony Morrison was Miami’s leader on the track, finishing second in the women’s 100m hurdles final with a personal-best time of 13.00 seconds that ranks fifth in the NCAA this season and fourth in UM history. The junior, who ran a time of 13.06 seconds in preliminaries, led a trio of Hurricanes into the finals as Jamika Glades finished fourth with a season-best time of 13.46 seconds and Stefani Kerrison was fifth with a time of 13.68 seconds.
“I was really pleased with the performances, led by our seniors, Isaiah and JP, and their school records,” Deem said. “Ebony had a great performance, a top five hurdle performance in school history and she tied the Olympic qualifying standard.”
Shakima Wimbley was the top collegiate athlete in the women’s 400m, finishing second overall with a time of 51.75 seconds. Aiyanna Stiverne was eighth (53.10), while Destiny Washington was 13th with a personal-best time of 53.87 seconds. Brittny Ellis ran a time of 55.80 seconds to finish 19th and round out Miami’s quartet to finish in the top 20. Henri Delauze finished 15th overall in the men’s 400m with a personal-best time of 46.58 seconds that ranks fourth in UM history.
“The other big performance we had today was Henri in the 400-meters,” Deem said. “That was a huge personal-best and I think we will see a lot of great things form him the rest of the season. Today was a big confidence builder. He’s been working really hard this outdoor season and I was pleased to see him run like he did. That sets him up well going into next week at LSU and then ACCs.”
TeQuille Jackson finished sixth in the men’s 110m hurdles final with a time of 14.58 seconds. Jackson reached the finals after running a season-best time of 14.25 seconds to finish third in his heat and earn the fifth overall seed.
The men’s 4x100m relay team of Isaiah Taylor, Breon Mullings, Jaalen Jones and TeQuille Jackson combined to finish fourth with a time of 40.78 seconds. The women’s 4x100m relay team of Carolyn Brown, Trishelle Leacock, Anna Runia and Erin Ford combined to place seventh with a time of 45.56 seconds. The Hurricanes were the fourth-best collegiate team in the field.
“We are going to have delays in Tallahassee for ACCs and in Jacksonville for regionals,” Deem said. “It could be very chilly in Oregon. The 4x100m relay was on the track when they pulled them off the track with the lightning delay. To learn to work through that is good and those are things you want to deal with now instead of at conference or NCAAs.”
Jamika Glades finished seventh in the women’s 400m hurdles with a time of 1:00.14, while Samantha Gonzalez won Heat 3 and finished eighth overall with a personal-best time of 1:00.34.
Taylor ran a collegiate-best time of 10.65 seconds to win Heat 6 and place 24th overall in the men’s 100m dash. Leacock ran a personal-best time of 11.86 seconds, while Brown posted a season-best time of 11.88 seconds in the women’s 100m.
Tom Gassner ran a season-best time of 1:55.71 to place 12th in the men’s 800m, while Anne Den Otter finished fifth in the women’s 1500m with a personal-best time of 4:36.84. Sean Grossman finished fifth in the men’s 3000m with a time of 8:51.84, while Carla Rodriguez finished ninth in the women’s 3000m with a personal-best time of 10:33.43.
While Simmons and Friday were the biggest standouts in the field events, several other Hurricanes also had impressive showings.
Gian Piero Ragonesi finished second in the men’s shot put with a throw of 18.38m. Ragonesi also won the men’s discus with a throw of 55.60m, while Precious Ogunleye was eighth in the women’s discus with a throw of 45.37m.
Ogunleye finished third in the women’s hammer throw with a season-best mark of 59.49m, while Tiffany Okieme was seventh with a throw of 54.04m. Carlos Mangum finished third in the men’s hammer throw with a mark of 61.50m, while Simmons placed fifth with a throw of 55.32m.
Alysha Newman won the women’s pole vault with a mark of 4.30m. Amanda Gale placed third with a collegiate-best mark of 3.80m that ranks third in UM history, while Emily Gale finished seventh with a mark of 3.45m. Nick Catchur finished fifth in the men’s pole vault with a season-best mark of 4.76m.
Dakota Dailey-Harris finished second in the women’s high jump with a mark of 1.75m, while Amy Taintor finished seventh with a mark of 1.65m.
Alexis Wright finished third in the women’s triple jump with a mark of 12.00m, while Niara Hill was eight with a jump of 11.36m.
Innocent Jacob placed fifth in the men’s long jump with a mark of 7.25m, while Taintor finished seventh in the women’s long jump with a personal-best mark of 5.88m.
In addition to the Canes in action on Friday, several Hurricane alumni were in action at Percy Beard Track. All-American and current Miami volunteer coach Devon Hill finished third in the men’s 110m hurdles international final with a time of 13.62 seconds. 2009 200m national champion Murielle Ahoure finished second in the women’s 100m with a time of 11.06 seconds. 2014 ACC 100m champion Alyssa McClure was 24th with a time of 11.70 seconds.
“Overall, I thought our kids did really well this weekend,” Deem said. “Could we have done better in certain areas? Of course. I think we need to warm up with some more intensity in some events. Considering the day, we walked out healthy and ready to prepare for LSU next weekend.”
Following this weekend’s action in Gainesville, the Hurricanes will travel to Baton Rouge, La., to compete in the LSU Invitational. The meet at LSU will be Miami’s final competition before the ACC Outdoor Championships on May 13-15.
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.
