The Howard Community College Track and Field Program traveled to compete at the Golden Ram Invitational hosted by Virginia Commonwealth University. The team was looking for some warmer weather and additional qualifying times for their national meet. The weather was not there, but the times / marks were.
For the men,
Kendall Belser (Severn, MD, Old Mills High School) led the way with marks in the 100 meters (11.18) and 200 meters (22.60). In the 400 meters,
Alex Hardman (Denton, MD, North Caroline High School) (50.7),
Xavier Reeves (Columbia, MD, Hammond High School) (51.3), and
Fadil Tejan (Columbia, MD, Howard High) (51.5) all qualified. In the 1500,
Corey Young (Silver Spring, MD, Springbrook HS) ran 4:22 along with
Garrett Birsa (Westminster, MD, Glenelg High School) who ran 17:25 in the 5k earned their way to the post season.
Donte Mitchell (Columbia, MD, Reservoir High School) qualified in the 400 Hurdles
Kristopher Gough (Columbia, MD, Wilde Lake) hit the standard in the shot put.
Amari Wilson (Columbia, MD, Oakland Mills High School) met the meet standard in the long jump.
For the women,
Glory Ebinama (Columbia, MD, Atholton High School) qualified with marks in the 100 meters (12.8) along with
Shade Jones (Vestal, NY, Vestal High School) (13.03). Glory also earned a spot in the 200 meters (26.24),
Amani Jones (Columbia, MD, Oakland Mills) ran the 400 meters (1:05) and
Margaret Niland (Laurel, MD, Reservoir) ran the 1500 (5:28) to earn their spots. In the field events;
Mary Hurd (Woodstock, MD, Marriotts Ridge HS) and
Elizabeth Okeke (Camden-Wyoming, DE, Polytech High School) obtained marks in the shot, discus and Hurd also qualified in the javelin.
The coaches feel that after two early meets, the team is meeting most of their goals. All of the relays have qualified. The program is looking to target several additional events to get athletes to the championships in May.
The program will make a short trip to Goucher College on March 26th to compete at the Gopher Invitational.
