BLACKSBURG, Va. (January 13, 2017) – Each week since the season started, the North Carolina A&T men's indoor track and field team has seen a team member elevate to No. 1 in the nation in their respective event.
At the season-opener, it was senior Corey Aiken in the 800 meters and last week it was sophomore Lasheon Strozier in the triple jump. This week, on day one of the Virginia Tech Invitational, senior Christopher Belcher has become the headliner with his 6.64 victory-sprint in the 60 meters.
Belcher was recently No. 2 in the nation after completing a 6.69 personal record in the event at the Clemson Orange & Purple Classic, but his latest time is enough to debunk the current top-mark of 6.66 held by Cameron Burrell of the University of Houston. Belcher was named the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Male Athlete of the Week last week and this week he remains on the path to the NCAA indoor championships. Belcher ran the top qualifying time (6.78) in the 60m preliminaries to qualify for the event's final.
Also claiming victory for the men's side was junior TeQuille Jackson, who took first in the 60-meter hurdles. Jackson shaved a tenth of a second off his previous PR and won the event with a time of 8:07. Just behind Jackson was senior Todd Townsend who placed second in 8:09. In the 60mh preliminary it was reversed with Townsend holding the top time (8.20) and Jackson coming in second (8.22).
The third and final win on the day came from senior Frank Quarles in the long jump. Quarles elevated 23-feet, 11-inches to claim the top-spot, while sophomore Lasheon Strozier claimed seventh with a bound of 22-feet, 5 ¾-inches.
Also hitting high marks, sophomore Rodney Rowe placed third in the 300m in 34.72 and senior Caleb Gabriel took fifth in the event with a debut run of 34.49. Junior Dajuan Harding found third as well, after running a PR of 1:04.34 in the 500m. Two other personal records were set by junior Joel Thomas and senior Derrick Wheeler. Thomas placed fifth in the 60m with a time of 6.78, lowering his PR from the 6.85 he ran at Clemson last week. And Wheeler added nearly two inches to his previous best weight throw (50-feet, 8 ¼-inches) after a launch of 52-feet, 4-inches that landed him in sixth.
On the women's side, junior India Brown found the Aggies highest ranking after placing second in the 60m with a season-low 7.43 run. Running with Brown, sophomore Yakira Love placed sixth with a time of 7.65. Another sixth-place finish came from junior Morgan Knight in the 60mh after she ran 8.54.
In the women's 500m, freshman Kristoni Barnes ranked fifth with a debut run of 1:17.10, and senior Daniqua Dye received eighth in 1:18.10. Junior Imani Abraham completed a PR launch of 50-feet, ½-inch, which garnered eighth in the weight throw to highlight the field events. Abraham's previous best of 48-feet, 3 ¼-inches was from the 2016 Virginia Tech Challenge.
Day two of the Virginia Tech Invitational will begin tomorrow with the women's high jump at 11 a.m. Running events will start at 1 p.m. with the women's 400m.
