AGGIE MEN FALL JUST SHORT OF CAPTURING TITLEAggies bring home seven individual and one relay title
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA., APRIL 30, 2005 -- The N.C. A&T men’s track team came with 9.5 points of winning its fifth MEAC Outdoor Championship under Director of Track Programs Roy “Spaceman” Thompson. But a mishap in the 4x100 relay in which the Aggies would have won, scoring 10 points and securing the MEAC Championship, instead resulted in a disqualification.
The Rattler men captured the title by adding a few more points in the distance events to finish with 126.5 points to N.C. A&T’s 117. The Aggie men finished with five individual champions and one relay victory in the 4x400. The women finished fifth with two individual championships. The Morgan State women captured the title on the ladies’ side.
Tiffany Green won the 100 meters with a time of 11.78, while Toya Woods captured the shot put title with a throw of 13.52 meters. Justin Byron walked away with three top medals. The junior sprinter out of Temple Hills, Md., won the 200 and 400 meter titles and teamed with Kenny Perry, Antonio Lee and Gordon Smith to capture the 4x400.
“Our athletes competed with all their heart this week,’’ Thompson. “They gave it all they had. I’m very, very proud of these young men and women.”
Brandon Via captured two individual titles in events he usually captures titles in. Via won the triple jump with a leap of 16.14 meters. Teammate Everett Bruce came in third with a jump of 15.70. Via also came away with the long jump title.
Christopher Walker and Smith finished 1, 2 in the high jump. Walker’s best leap was 2.13 meters, while Gordon jumped 2.08 meters.
It was an impressive showing for the Aggie track teams, considering they brought the third fewest participants at the meet. The Aggie men and women combined to place in the top five in 15 different events. In five of those events they had at least two runners place in the top five.
The men who came into the MEAC Championships with six qualifiers for May’s NCAA East Regional qualified nearly the entire team over the course of the week. The regional will be held Randall Island, N.Y., May 27-28.