MANHATTAN, N.Y. - Good fortunes keep coming North Carolina A&T's way in track and field. It's expected for veteran competitors like Shakia Forbes, Torrance Womack and Jarrell Elliott to do well. But when redshirt freshmen start joining the party, there is reason to believe the Aggies are headed toward a strong showing in the MEAC Indoor Championships in two weeks.
Redshirt freshman Michael Brown won the college men's triple jump at the 2012 New Balance Invitational over the weekend. His best leap in the final was 48-feet, 8 ½ inches. Brown also showed his significance in terms of depth with his entry into men's high jump and long jump. Another young Aggie, sophomore Keenan Smith, placed third in the triple jump with a personal-best jump of 48-feet, 8-inches.
In addition to Brown's triple jump triumph, three school records fail and the Aggies had nine athletes post personal records. For the second straight week, the Aggies competed in one of the nation's most prestigious indoor events.
"Janessa Benn, Juanita Weaver, Ruth Hunt, Felexia Brasswell and Dotrine Jacobs all were consistent and showed improvement," said James Daniels, the Aggies' interim director of track and field programs. "The team really performed well and represented A&T very well. For the last two weeks we have ran against some of the toughest."
Never one to shy away from the big stage, Womack continued to improve on what has already been an impressive indoor season for the Western Kentucky transfer. Womack, who came into the weekend with the best 300 meter time in the nation, should improve his standing in the newest 200-meter ranking after his second-place finish at New Balance yielded a time of 21.25.
Womack ran a 21.30 in the 200 meters last week at the Penn State Invitational, which had him ranked 17th in the nation. The time of 21.25 was good enough for 12th in the nation's last rankings. Elliott (SR, Winston-Salem, N.C.), will likely join Womack in the top 20 rankings after finishing three-tenths of a second behind Womack in the 200 meters at New Balance.
Elliott's time of 21.28 in the 200 was a personal best. Elliott also went on to record a personal record in the 400 meters after finishing fifth with a time of 47.43, which was also a school record.
Paris Simmons, whose performances in distance races will be vital for A&T at the MEAC Indoor, had another strong showing. Simmons placed second in the men's 800 meters with a school-record time of 1:53.20. It was Simmons' second straight second-place finish in the 800 meters after finishing second last week at Penn State.
Teammate Christian Harrison finished 11th with a personal record time of 1:54.43. In another distance race, Steve Liggins ran the mile in 4:25.82.
On the women's side, Forbes' two-meet winning streak in the long jump came to an end after she placed third (20-feet, 9-inches) at New Balance. But the silver lining for the A&T scholar athlete was that her best jump over the weekend was a school record. Forbes came into the weekend ranked ninth in the nation in the long jump.
The other female Aggies recording personal records were Sydni Cobb (weight throw) and Roshel Bygraves (400 meter dash preliminary).
