Benedict Men Win SIAC Track Championship, Women Are Runners-Up

ROCK HILL. South Carolina – The Benedict College men's track & field team won its first SIAC championship on Saturday, while the Lady Tigers finished second at the Irwin Belk Track & Field Complex at Winthrop University.

The men earned 86.5 points on the final day of events to finish with 193.5 points. Morehouse finished in second with 171 points, while Albany State finished third with 147.5 points. Benedict head coach Frank Hyland was named the Most Outstanding Coach of the men's championship.

The Lady Tigers stormed past Clark Atlanta, which started the day in second place, and held off a hard-charging Claflin team for second place. Benedict earned 101 points on Saturday for 170 total points. Albany State won the championship with 196 points, while Claflin finished third with 155 points.

Benedict finished first and second in the men's 100-meter dash as Andre Watson won with a time of 10.87, while Oshane Burrell was second with a time of 10.93.

The Tigers picked up 18 points in the men's 5,000-meter run as Dessie Demlew won with a time of 15:15.31, while teammate Haregot Gebreyesus was third with a time of 16:20.95 and Ediberto Crisanto was seventh. Crisanto also earned two points with a seventh-place finish in the pole vault.

Demlew finished second in the 1,500-meter run, while Geovanni West was fourth. Alvaro Perdomo finished seventh. West also finished sixth in the 800-meter run.

The Tigers picked up 11 points in the men's 400-meter dash as Lennox Williams finished third with a time of 46.58, while Antonio Locklin Jr. was fourth with a time of 46.75.

Benedict had three runners in the men's 200-meter finals and earned eight points. Williams was fifth, Watson was sixth and Burrell was eighth.

Benedict finished third in the men's 4x400-meter relay race and NaQuan Adams finished third in the high jump.

For the Lady Tigers, Jenella John was named the women's track co-MVP. She won the 1,500-meter run and 800-meter run and finished fourth in the 5,000-meter run and ran the final leg of the 4x400-meter relay race, helping Benedict to a third-place finish.

Karel Ziketh won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.42, was second in the 100-meter dash and finished fourth in the 200-meter dash.

Stephanie Rhoden was second in the 400-meter dash, while Lea Tshikaya finished fourth. Rhoden also finished sixth in the 200-meter dash.

Astacia Watkins finished third in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 21:03.88.

Ruddesha Strachan earned points with a seventh-place finish in the 1,500-meter run and a sixth-place finish in the 800-meter run.

Lea Tshikaya was fourth in the 400-meter hurdles, while Princess Hammett was fifth.

Benedict finished third in the women's 4x100-meter relay race.

COURTESY BENEDICT COLLEGE ATHLETICS MEDIA RELATIONS