Myrtle Beach, SC - After battling the elements in their opening two meets of the season, the Howard Community College Dragons finally got to see sunshine last weekend in the Alan Connie Shamrock Invitational in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Over the course of the three-day meet in which the Dragons shared the track with several high-ranking NCAA programs including South Carolina from the SEC, the Dragons broke several school records and set a flurry of personal bests. Highlighting the weekend was
Ameer Mowad (), who broke a 21-year-old record for HCC in the men's 100m dash.
Sprints
- Ameer Mowad () broke the HCC school record for the men's 100m dash, qualifying for the main event with a time of 10.39 seconds. Mowad's time broke the record set by current Dragons head coach Philippe DeRosier of 10.47 set in 2005. Demetrius Lewis () set a season-best with an 11.01, inches from beating his own personal best of eleven seconds flat. Roy Brooks-Foster (Millersville, MD/Old Mill) set a season best for himself with an 11.39, marking a return to good form. In the main event, Ameer Moward finished third with a time of 10.52, only beat by runners from South Carolina and UCONN. Placing third at a high-level meet is an incredible accomplishment for the freshman. Three weeks into the season, Mowad has reached #4 in the NJCAA Division I track & field 100m rankings, and hit the automatic qualifying standard for the NJCAA Nationals in Hobbs, New Mexico later this year.
- Mowad led the Dragons in the men's 200m dash, setting a season-best and finishing fifth with a 21.38. Brooks-Foster would also set a season best in the event with a 23.19. Demetrius Lewis () set a personal best in the event with a 22.03.
- Jared Porter () set personal bests in both the 100m and 200m dash, with a 12.08 in the former and a 25.06 in the latter.
- Samone Haywood (Columbia, MD/Hammond) set a personal best in the womens 100m dash with a time of 12.64. Haywood also set a personal best in the women's 200m dash with a 26.68. Haywood's times were the first sub-13 and sub-27 second times of her career.
- Katy Spence (Jessup, MD/Meade) came home seventh in the women's 400m race, setting a new personal best with a 58.43. Spence set personal bests in every event she competed in this weekend, with a 16.38 in the women's 100m hurdles, a 25.96 in the womens 200m dash, and the aforementioned 400m race.
Mid-Distance
- Jayden Gallion (Glendale, MD/CMIT Academy) set his season-best result in the men's 800m race with a 1:58.81.
- Three Dragons set personal bests in the men's one mile race. Jayden Gallion (Glendale, MD/CMIT Academy) finished sixth with a 4:37.90. Samuel Venegas (Silver Spring, MD/James Hubert Blake) was 14th with a 5:04.89, and Ben Fry (Columbia, MD/Wilde Lake) came home 20th with a 5:14.91.
Throws
- Chukwueloka Okafor (Burtonsville, MD/Paint Branch) set a personal best in the men's hammer throw with a distance of 31.58m.
Relays
- The Dragons came home sixth overall in the men's 4x100m relay, with Caleb Adams (Pasadena, MD/Chesapeake), Jaylen Etheridge (), Demetrius Lewis (), and Ameer Mowad () scoring a 41.61 to set a season-best results. This marks the third time this season the quartet has broken the school record for the 4x100m. The Dragons had representation in every relay, with their second-best result coming in the men's 4x200m race. Roy Brooks-Foster (Millersville, MD/Old Mill), Samuel Chukwuma (), Richard Saunders (), and Evan Taylor (Baltimore, MD/Mount Saint Joseph) finished tenth overall with a time of 1:31.25.
Howard hosts the NJCAA Region 20 Outdoor Track & Field Championships next on the weekend of April 10.
