Armory New Balance Collegiate meet notes

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Hampton University men's and women's track & field teams will return to the Big Apple this weekend, where they will compete on Friday and Saturday in the Armory New Balance Collegiate Invitational at the Armory Track & Field Center.

This will mark at least the sixth straight year in which Hampton has competed in the meet. Senior Francena McCorory (Hampton, Va.) won the 400-meter dash at last year's Armory New Balance Collegiate, setting a then-national best time of 52.06 in the process. Racquel Vassell (Irvington, N.J.) turned in three top-10 finishes in last year's meet, coming in fourth in the college long jump (5.93m), seventh in the 60-meter hurdles (8.41) and ninth in the 200-meter dash (23.91).

Reggie Dixon (Plainfield, N.J.) finished seventh in the 60-meter dash at last year's meet, running a provisional NCAA qualifying time of 6.73. Former Pirate Brandon Lynch ran a 1:04.24 in the 500-meter run to finish ninth, while the Pirates relay teams finished fourth in the 4x200 (1:28.80), seventh in the 4x800 (school-record 7:44.30) and ninth in the 4x400 (3:19.84).

McCorory accounted for a pair of event titles last weekend in the Terrier Invitational, taking the 300-meter dash with a time of 37.18 before anchoring the 4x400-meter relay team that took the gold in 3:46.26. Leah Richmond (Long Beach, Calif.), Petrice Richards (Manchester, Jamaica) and Vassell were also on that squad.

The Lady Pirates 4x800-meter relay team – Kenya Jones (Chesapeake, Va.), Jahlisa Smith (Plainfield, N.J.), Janean Morris (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Claudia Calder (Kingston, Jamaica) – won the gold after running a 9:07.00.

Vassell also ran a 7.97 in the 55-meter hurdles to finish second, while Richards also logged a runner-up finish with a 24.37 in the 200-meter dash.

Damon Dixon (Great Falls, Va.) won the heptathlon last weekend at the Penn State National Invitational with a school-record 5,236 points. He won four of the seven events in the competition, and his worst finish in the series was fourth.

Aaron Anderson (Fort Washington, Md.) ran a 6.81 to finish third in the 60-meter dash, before also running a 21.69 to finish fourth in the 200-meter dash invitational. Junior Predist Walker (Suffolk, Va.) came in fourth in the 60-meter hurdles after running a 7.87 – a time which provisionally qualified him for the NCAA Championships.

Select Pirates and Lady Pirates will also be competing in the Vince Brown Invitational on Saturday at the Freeman Center on the campus of Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va. These will be the last meets for Hampton before the 2010 MEAC Indoor Championships, which will be held Feb. 11-13 in Landover, Md.

For more information on Hampton University track & field, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.