Kimona Smith wins long jump title

 

BALTIMORE, Md., May 2, 2008 – Senior North Carolina A&T track and field sprinter Jennifer Jackson could have easily panicked. After an indoor season that she and her coach admit was less than her best, Jackson ran into some trouble at the MEAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hughes Stadium on the campus of Morgan State University.

As the second leg of the women’s 400 meter relay ended, Jackson and teammate Loreal Smith had a bad exchange going into the third leg. But it’s apparent that Jackson’s luck has changed as her career nears an end. The Aggies recovered from the bad exchange and went on to set a new meet record by running a qualifying time of 45.28. Carmenta Mitchell (1^st leg) and Alexandria Spruiel (anchor leg) helped the 400 relay team break the mark.

Jackson’s day just kept getting better. She also qualified for the East Regional with a personal record time of 23.75 in the 200 meter preliminaries. Jackson’s previous best was 24.27.

“I’m overly excited,’’ said Jackson about her performance on Friday. “I’ve been trying to gradually get my confidence back after indoor, and I’m finally to the point where I’ve completely recovered and moved on from it. I wasn’t running my times. I wasn’t making finals. It just wasn’t working for me. I was just too impatient. I couldn’t believe this was happening during my senior year.”

Jackson said her teammates kept encouraging her, and she kept praying. She also said sprinting coach James Daniels kept pushing her and wouldn’t allow her to feel sorry for herself. Now, Jackson and her teammates are in contention for the MEAC team title. The Aggie women are in third place after the second day of the championships with 26 points. They trail Norfolk State (39) and Maryland-Eastern Shore (43).

Sophomore Kimona Smith got a big chunk of the Aggies score by scoring 10 points with a first-place finish in the long jump. Smith jumped a personal-record of 20-feet, 5 ¾-inches to win her second straight conference championship in the long jump. She out-leaped last year’s jump at the MEAC Championships by more than three inches as she qualified for regionals.

“Kimona knows how to turn it on at the right time,’’ said Daniels. “That’s what we talked about with the whole team. We have to do the right things at the right time. If everyone does what is expected, we can win it.”

On the men’s side, Norfolk State took a commanding lead of Friday. The perennial MEAC power scored 70 points on the first day to pace the field. The Aggies are in fourth place with 20 points. Calesio Newman is the Aggies best hope of capturing multiple gold medals on Saturday. Newman ran the best qualifying time in the 100 meters with a time of 10.31. He will have stiff competition from Bethune-Cookman’s Joel Redhead in the 200 meters. Redhead ran a 20.96 in the 200 meter preliminaries while Newman recorded a 21.06. Newman ran a 20.89 earlier this season.

Newman will also go for gold in the 400 meter relay. After not running together all season long, the team of Newman, Kevin Lowe, Robert Martin and Erick Worthington ran a qualifying time of 40.86. Lonnie Phifer was the Aggies top scorer on Friday. He finished second in the discus with a throw of 155-feet, 10-inches. Phifer will go for his second MEAC title in the shot put in three years on Saturday. Teammate Tarrish Alexander had his best showing of the season. He jumped a personal-record 24-feet, 9 ¼ inches to finish third in the long jump. Alexander’s leap earned him a spot in the regionals.

Saturday’s action starts at 10 a.m. Two of the more crucial events for the Aggie women will be the triple jump where Kimona Smith and Brittany Dixson will be competing and the 200 meters where Jackson and Spruiel will be featured.

“We trust that each other will get the job done,’’ said Jackson. “We’ve come this far. We’ve prayed this long. So there is no need to slow down now.”