Track Shines on Day 2 at Hurricane Invitational
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami track and field program closed out the Hurricane Invitational with a strong showing on the track and in the field events on Saturday afternoon.
Miami director of track and field/cross country Amy Deem was impressed with how her team responded after a disappointing end to its indoor season. A rejuvenated group of Hurricanes wasted little time showing they were ready to compete this outdoor season.
“I saw their attitude change the Tuesday after ACCs ad they’ve been focused and motivated,” Deem said. “It was nice to see them put together two good weeks of practice and really get focused and say ‘we’re going to do better.’ For them to come out this weekend and open up with a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of PRs is a great starting point for us, but it’s just the beginning. There is still a lot of outdoor track left, so we can’t get complacent. We have to stay on it, keep working and keep getting better. I think we can be a really good team by the end of the season.”
The Canes kicked off the meet with victories in the men’s and women’s 5000m on Friday night. Anne den Otter won the women’s 5000m with a personal-best time of 17:44.54, while freshman Abby Kettle was fourth with a time of 18:06.75. Sean Grossman won the men’s 5000m with Nathan Kuck finishing second and Adam George placing fourth. Due to a momentary power failure during the race, times were not recorded for the men’s 5000m.
Miami’s success on the track continued on Saturday, as the quartet of Kristina Knott, Alfreda Steele, Symone Mason and Tiara McMinn won the women’s 4x100m with a time of 43.54 seconds – second-fastest in UM history.
Isaiah Taylor, Breon Mullings, Myles Valentine and Chris Moree combined to run a time of 41.82 seconds in the men’s 4x100m relay, finishing third overall in the event.
Kayla Johnson was second in the women’s 400m with a time of 52.82 seconds, while Ibrahim Dodo finished 11th overall with a time of 49.27 seconds and Luca Bhalla won Heat 5 of the men’s 400m with a time of 51.36 seconds.
Symone Mason was second in the women’s 100m with a time of 11.55 seconds, while Tiara McMinn was fourth in the women’s 200m with a time of 24.01 seconds and Samantha Gonzalez was fifth at a personal-best 24.02 seconds.
Amy Taintor won Heat 3 and finished 11th overall in the women’s 100m hurdles with a personal-best time of 14.46 seconds. Andreas Christodoulou was second in Heat 2 of the men’s 110m hurdles with a time of 14.70 seconds.
The Canes closed out the meet with a win in the women’s 4x400m relay, as Anna Runia, Mason, Gonzalez and Johnson ran a time of 3:34.72 to earn the victory. The quartet of Erin Ford, Alfreda Steele, Kristina Knott and Taintor finished fourth with a time of 3:45.17.
Miami’s men finished third in the 4x400m relay, as McKinly Brown, Jaalen Jones, Breon Mullings and Ibrahim Dodo combined to run 3:15.18.
The Canes also had success in the field events, highlighted by a pair of victories in the throws.
Christodoulou won the men’s javelin with a personal-best throw of 59.79m that ranks second in UM history.
“Andreas opened up and had really good marks in his individual events,” Deem said. “That’s setting him up really well for his first decathlon in a few weeks. I’m excited about where he is.”
Gian Piero Ragonesi won the men’s shot put with a throw of 18.48m, while three Canes finished in the top eight of the women’s shot put, led by third-place finisher Zakiya Rashid with a mark of 14.99m. Debbie Ajagbe was fourth with a throw of 14.72m, while Sherry Lubin was eighth with a mark of 13.42m.
Niara Hill was second in the women’s triple jump with a mark of 12.37m, while Peyton Russell finished sixth with a mark of 11.85m.
Taintor finished third in the women’s long jump with a mark of 5.96m, while Darlene Charles was sixth with a mark of 5.68m.
“I’m really pleased with how our freshmen are coming around,” Deem said. ” Debbie and Kayla and some of the other freshmen are really stepping up and being great leaders. We didn’t do a lot of our regular events. I think more kids are going to shine as they open up in their individual events. I feel like our young kids are really setting the tone right now. I think that’s the one thing we didn’t have indoors, it’s that spark to get going and I think we’ve got that now and we’ve just got to keep building on it.”
The Hurricane Invitational was the first of four meets held at Cobb Stadium this season. Miami will also host the Hurricane Alumni Invitational on April 6-7 and the Hurricane Collegiate Invitational on April 14 before serving as host to the 2018 ACC Outdoor Championships on May 10-12.
Following this weekend’s action, the Hurricanes will travel to Los Angeles to compete at the Power 5 Trail Blazer Challenge on March 23-24. The two-day meet will feature the only five Power 5 track and field programs in NCAA Division I that have a female head coach: Miami, Tennessee, Ohio State, Ole Miss and the host USC Trojans. To view the complete Miami Track and Field schedule for the 2018 season, click here.
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.
