Meet Notes

HAMPTON, Va. – The Hampton University men's and women's track & field teams will open the 2010 outdoor season this weekend, with the Lady Pirates traveling to Myrtle Beach, S.C. and the Pirates heading to Williamsburg, Va.

The Lady Pirates will compete in the Shamrock Invitational at Doug Shaw Stadium hosted by Coastal Carolina University on Thursday through Saturday. The Pirates will be at Zable Stadium on the campus of William & Mary on Saturday for the Tribe Open.

Senior Francena McCorory successfully defended her title in the 400-meter dash last Saturday at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center.

McCorory (Hampton, Va.) set both a school record and American record with a 50.54, winning the second section of the race. Keshia Baker of Oregon won the first section with a 51.63, which wound up being the second-best overall time.

She has been named MEAC Athlete of the Week three times, and was also the Most Outstanding Runner at the 2010 MEAC Indoor Championships in February, tallying 27.5 points. The Lady Pirates finished second in the MEAC Championships with 122.5 points.

McCorory won a total of 11 event titles during the 2009-10 indoor season.

Diane Dixon held the old American record, having run a 50.64 in 1991. McCorory's time was also a collegiate, NCAA meet and facility record.

The Pirates finished second in the MEAC indoor Championships with 98 points, where Damon Dixon (Great Falls, Va.) was named the meet's Most Outstanding Field Performer on the men's side, thanks to 29 points and the MEAC title in the heptathlon. Dixon tallied 4,785 points, beating Maryland-Eastern Shore's Jermol Dix by 229 points. Dixon won four of the seven events – the 60-meter dash (7.14), long jump (6.69m), 60-meter hurdles (8.28) and pole vault (3.94m).

Lamar Veale (Chesapeake, Va.) finished third in the heptathlon with 4,439 points.

Dixon also finished second in the high jump with a height of 2.05 meters, second in the pole vault at 3.95 meters and sixth in the long jump at 7.13 meters.

Predist Walker (Suffolk, Va.) won the 60-meter hurdles title, running a 7.94. David Kimani (Kenya) picked up a MEAC crown in the 3,000-meter run with a MEAC indoor record time of 8:49.99. Kimani also finished third in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 15:20.57.

Xavier Fraction (Sewell, N.J.) ran a 4:19.54 to finish third in the mile run.

Aaron Anderson (Fort Washington, Md.) came in third in the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.36 at the IC4A Championships in Boston, Mass., before running a season-best 21.44 in the 200-meter dash to finish fifth. Anderson's time in the 200-meter dash was good enough for provisional NCAA qualification.

Walker finished sixth in the long jump with a distance of 7.03 meters. He also finished second in the preliminary heats of the 55-meter hurdles race with a 7.41, but Walker did not advance to the final.

Fraction ran a 2:29.07 in the preliminaries of the 1,000-meter run for a season best. Lawrence Campbell (Bronx, N.Y.) also ran a season-best 1:04.23 in the 500-meter dash to come in 17th.

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.