Chambers Wins 60m Dash in Miami Debut
BLACKSBURG, Va. – The University of Miami track and field team dominated day one of the “Doc Hale” Elite Meet, winning three track events and boasting five personal bests at the Rector Field House on Friday night.
Junior transfer Raheem Chambers made a remarkable start to his Miami career, winning the men’s 60m dash with a time of 6.69 seconds, which ranks second in program history. Chambers’ time is .01 seconds off from Myles Valentine’s program record set last season.
“He’s a great addition to our team, not only as a good athlete, but he brings a lot of leadership and experience,” head coach Amy Deem said. “For him to go out and open and get that first race under his belt was really big and he’ll only build and be where he needs to be at the right time of the year.”
Freshman Chauncy Smart finished second, recording a personal best time of 6.77, and is now tied with Isaiah Taylor’s fourth-best time in UM history. Taylor finished today’s final fifth with a time of 6.95.
“Chauncy is an extremly hard worker and is extremely determined,” Deem said. “The more him and Raheem work together, the more he’ll improve. Together they’ll be great training partners.”
Freshman Tyrees Moulton’s last dash effort in the men’s 400m paid off, finishing third with a time of 48.48 in a field of 13. Friday night’s 400 was the first time the freshman has run the event as a collegian.
In the men’s field events, Hasani Knight continued to have a strong start to the indoor season, finishing second in the men’s long jump with an indoor personal best mark of 7.13m.
On the women’s side, sophomore Tiara McMinn dominated the women’s 60m hurdles and recorded a personal best time of 8.16 seconds, which currently ranks 11th in the nation. Tonight’s event win is McMinn’s second victory of the season, having won at the UAB Blazer Invite.
“She’s been extremely consistent this season, but I still think she has a breakaway run in her,” Deem said. “It’s going to be a huge personal best for her when it happens. I think today was a huge step in the right direction for her.”
The Canes took four of the five top finishes in the women’s 60m final with Alfreda Steele coming in second with a time of 7.42, Carolyn Brown in third with a time of 7.43, Symone Mason in fourth (7.46) and Amuru Patterson in fifth (7.53).
Sophomore Kayla Johnson registered an indoor personal best time of 54.00 in the women’s 400m, finishing first, followed by Samantha Gonzalez in second (54.26), Brittny Ellis (54.39) and Anna Runia at 54.66.
The women’s weight throw concluded day one of the “Doc Hale” Meet, which featured sophomore standout Debbie Ajagbe throwing a personal best mark of 20.24m to finish second in the event. Senior Zakiya Rashid finished fifth with a mark of 18.85m.
The Canes close out its third indoor meet of the season Saturday morning starting with the women’s pole vault at 11 a.m. and concluding with the women’s 4x400m relay at 2:45 p.m.
“I’d like to see a couple of big 200’s tomorrow,” Deem said. “I’m also excited to see the field events tomorrow, it’s going to be good and I really want to see us put some things together.”
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