Saint Augustine's University Wins NCAA Division II National Men's Track & Field Title

COACH GEORGE WILLIAMS
SAINT AUGUSTINE'S UNIVERSITY

PUEBLO, Colorado  – Powered by its sprinters and hurdlers, Saint Augustine's University completed its season as the best men's track & field team in Division II.

The Falcons 99 points on the final day to run away with the men's team crown at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships held at the Neta and Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl on the campus of Colorado State University at Pueblo on Saturday, May 25, 2013. St. Aug has won 33 men's and women's indoor and outdoor titles combined and 11 men's outdoor titles under legendary head coach George Williams.

The Falcons scored 105 points which is the third-most points by a winning men's team since 2007. Ashland was second with 57 points and Adams State was third with 44 points.

The outdoor title comes on the heels of the indoor crown won by the Falcons in March 2013. It is the first time a team has swept both championships since 2005. The last time the Falcons were indoor and outdoor champions was 2001.

"The kids did a good job," Williams said. "They started the indoor season with a vision. They worked hard. I am proud of them."

Among the women, the Lady Falcons tied for 14^th with 18 points. Academy of Art is the women's winner with 60 points and Johnson C. Smith placed second with 54 points. Lincoln (Mo.) and Grand Valley State tied for third with 51 points.

The Falcons won four men's events and scored significant points in several others to win easily. The winners were the 4x100 relay team, the 4x400 relay team, Dane Hyatt (Jr./Goodwill, Jamaica) in the 400 dash and Jermaine Jones (So./Wilmington, N.C.) in the 200 dash. On the women's side, the Lady Falcons claimed the 4x400 relay.

"This is a typical St. Aug group," Williams said. "We excelled in sprints, hurdles, relays and jumps."

The men's 4x100 relay team set the tone with a sizzling performance in its event. The foursome of Ramaan Ansley (Sr./Philadelphia, Pa.), Taffawee Johnson (Jr./St. Ann, Jamaica), Burkheart Ellis, Jr. (Fr./Raleigh, N.C.) and Jones ran 38.91 seconds to break the Division II national record which they set two days ago in preliminaries. On Thursday, the Falcons ran 39.01 in the preliminaries to break the previous mark held by Abilene Christian for 29 years. Abilene Christian ran 39.20 in 1984.

The Falcons are the first Division II team in history to run the 4x100 relay under 39 seconds. It is the seventh fastest time in the United States in 2013. Grand Canyon was second in 39.58 and Lincoln (Mo.) was third in 39.95.

Ansley is excited to be part of a record-setting relay team and national championship squad.

"As a senior, I definitely wanted to be part of something big," Ansley said. "Now we [4x400 team] are a part of history - national record and national championship."

Despite the thrilling 4x100 win and a fifth-place finish by Ty'reak Murray (Jr./Portsmouth, Va.) in the men's 110 hurdles, the Falcons didn't take the lead until the 400 dash when the Falcons took four of the top six spots with Hyatt leading the way. Hyatt won in 45.41 while Ellis, Jr. was third, James Quarles (Jr./Washington, D.C.) was fifth and Josh Edmonds (Jr./Jacksonville, Fla.) was sixth. The Falcons scored 23 points in the 400 to move into first place with a 44-30 lead over Adams State.

The Falcons widen their lead in the 100 dash. Johnson was second and Jones was third while Daniel Jameison (Fr./Windsor, Conn.) was eighth. The Falcons scored 15 more points for a 58-34 lead over Grand Canyon.

The Falcons never looked back from that point. Marcelis Lynch (Sr./Stone Mountain, Ga.) finished sixth in the 800 and Elhadji Mbow (Jr./Dakar, Senegal) was second in the 400 hurdles. DeJon Wilkinson (Jr./Summerville, S.C.) was fourth in the triple jump.

The Falcons sealed the title in the 200. Jones was first with a time of 20.57 and teammates Johnson and Edmonds were third and fourth, respectively. The 4x400 squad of Edmonds, Quarles, Ellis, Jr. and Hyatt capped the meet by winning the last event in 3:04.89.

Among the women, the quartet of Kelly Shaw (Sr./Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), Cherrisse Lynch (So./Bridgetown, Barbados), Jaivairia Bacote (Jr./Patterson, N.J.) crossed the finish line first in the 4x400 in 3:35.89. In the 800, Shaw was fourth, Lynch was seventh and Bernard was eighth

COURTESY SAINT AUGUSTINE'S UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

Final Results     Video: Highlights

DII MEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Final Day:  Recap Highlights
Day 2:  Highlights
Day 1:  Highlights
Complete Results
Accepted Qualifiers: Men’s Entries
Championship: Program | Information

COURTESY NCAA.COM

Lincoln University of Missouri Blue Tigers Take Third at NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships

PUEBLO, Colorado  --  The Lincoln women's outdoor track & field team posted four top-three finishes on Saturday (May 25) to finish tied for third place at the NCAA Division II National Championship meet.

Michelle Cumberbatch and Yanique Haye highlighted the day for Lincoln, taking second and third, respectively, in the 400-meter hurdles. Cumberbatch clocked in a 57.59, edging Haye, who finished in 57.61, for second place. The duo also helped Lincoln to a second place result in the 4x400-meter relay, teaming with Twishana Williams and Lovan Palmer to come in at 3:37.16.

Palmer earned All-American honors in two other events, taking fifth in both the 400m (53.32) and 800m (2:10.49). The Blue Tigers also took fifth in the 4x100-meter relay, with Yanique Ellington and Cardine Copeland teaming with Anna-Kay James and Janae Johnson to finish in 45.11. Ellington and Copeland also represented LU in the 100m, with Ellington taking sixth (11.76) and Copeland placing seventh (11.86).

Lincoln's other top-three finish of the day came in the high jump, where Sheri Kaye Campbell took third with a mark of 1.81m. Campbell had previously scored points for LU with a sixth-place result in the triple jump (12.55m) on Friday (May 24). Twishana Williams added the final points of the meet for Lincoln in the 1,500m, finishing sixth with a time of 4:35.30.

The Blue Tigers scored 51 team points to tie for third place at the national championships with Grand Valley State. The Academy of Art, which had previously won the 2013 NCAA Division II Indoor title, scored 60 points to win the outdoor championship while Johnson C. Smith finished second with 54 points.

By Dan Carr, Assistant AD for Media Relations
COURTESY LINCOLN UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI MEDIA RELATIONS

Lincoln women finish third in NCAA Division II track and field championships

PUEBLO, Colo. — There was no Lucky 7 for the Lincoln women’s track team.

Looking for their seventh title at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the Blue Tigers came up just a bit short Saturday night.

Academy of Art, a San Francisco-based school, captured the national title with 60 points, beating second-place Johnson C. Smith by six points. Lincoln and Grand Valley State tied for third with 51 points.

The Blue Tigers, who claimed titles in 2003-07 and 2009, did manage to keep their streak of top-three finishes intact. Lincoln has now finished in the top three for 11 straight years.

In their first event of the day, the Blue Tigers’ 4x100-meter relay team of Anna-Kay James, Cardine Copeland, Yanique Ellington and Jenea Johnson came in fifth (45.11).

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XU Nuggets' season ends with no advances at NAIA meet

MARION, Indiana --  Xavier University of Louisiana's SiMon Franklin and Devinn Rolland did not qualify Friday in preliminary heats of the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships.

Franklin ran 400 meters in 59.57 seconds to rank 14th. She missed advancing to Saturday's final by nearly 2.5 seconds. Rolland ran 100 meters in 12.16 to tie for 11th in the 100 preliminaries. The slowest qualifying time to reach the final was 11.97.

Indiana Tech recorded the fastest qualifying times in both events -- sophomore Kirsten Flake in the 400 (54.75) and senior Adella King in the 100 (11.47).

Although the meet will conclude Saturday, the Gold Nuggets' season ended Friday. It was the final collegiate competition for Franklin, a senior who also was a 1,000-point career scorer in basketball and received her bachelor's degree from Xavier on May 11. Rolland, an All-America long jumper in 2012 and a two-time Gulf Coast Athletic Conference champion in the 100, 200 and long jump, will have two more seasons of eligibility.

By Ed Cassiere, SID
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA

St. Aug. Runs 38.91 To Break Own D-II National Men's 4x100 Relay Record

PUEBLO, Colorado  –  Saint Augustine's University ran 38.91 seconds to break the Division II men's 4x100 relay record set by the Falcons two days ago at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Neta and Eddie DeRose Thunderbowl on the Colorado State University of Pueblo campus on Saturday, May 25, 2013.

The Falcons ran the first ever relay under 39 seconds by a Division II team in winning the men's 4x100 national title on Saturday. The team consists of Ramaan Ansley (Sr./Philadelphia, Pa.), Taffawee Johnson (Jr./St. Ann, Jamaica), Burkheart Ellis, Jr. (Fr./Raleigh, N.C.) and Jermaine Jones (So./Wilmington, N.C.). It is the seventh fastest time in the United States in 2013. Grand Canyon was second in 39.58 and Lincoln (Mo.) was third in 39.95.

On Thursday, the Falcons ran 39.01 in the preliminaries to break the previous mark held by Abilene Christian for 29 years. Abilene Christian ran 39.20 in 1984.


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VSU student faces 63 years for robbery and killing of Petersburg drug dealer

Ryan Christopher Simms

ETTRICK, Virginia  -- A Virginia State University student could spend 63 years behind bars for conspiring with a fellow student to rip off a Petersburg drug dealer and fatally shooting him several yards from campus in a crime that stunned the VSU community and the village of Ettrick.

After a four-day trial that featured testimony from several former VSU students who were unwittingly caught up in the April 17, 2012, shooting, a Chesterfield County jury deliberated 4½ hours Friday before finding Ryan Christopher Simms, 20, guilty of second-degree murder — reduced from first-degree — in the slaying of Tyrail Hughes, 20. 
    
The jury also convicted Simms, who is from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, and was a freshman last year at VSU, of conspiring with fellow student Khaliq Oliver, a co-defendant, to rob Hughes of an ounce of high-grade marijuana valued at $425.

Jurors considered a total of 10 felony crimes against Simms and found him guilty of eight, including grand larceny for the theft of the drugs; malicious wounding for inadvertently shooting VSU freshman William Penn in the foot; attempted murder for shooting at Hughes’ friend Damon Wright; and three related felony firearm counts.

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MEAC announces Hampton and Norfolk State as 2013 All-sports Award winners

ORLANDO, Florida  --  Hampton University won its 12th consecutive Mary McLeod Bethune Women’s All-Sports Award and Norfolk State captured its ninth consecutive Talmadge Layman Hill Men’s Award, the league announced on Tuesday.

The All-Sports Awards highlight the overall strengths of their respective men’s and women’s athletic programs. Each institution was presented a $20,000 check during a reception at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday evening.

“I would like to congratulate Norfolk State University including President Tony Atwater, Director of Athletics Marty Miller, and the administrators, coaches, student-athletes and support staff for winning the 2013 Talmadge Layman Hill Award,” said MEAC Commissioner Dennis Thomas. “I also extend congratulations to Hampton University and President William R. Harvey, Director of Athletics Novelle Dickenson and all of the outstanding individuals including staff, coaches and student-athletes who were involved in winning the Mary McLeod Bethune Award.

Hampton’s women’s programs totaled ...

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Savannah State getting set for NCAA Baseball Tournament

SAVANNAH, Georgian  -- It’s been just another week on the practice field for the Savannah State Tigers.

While other conferences hold their tournaments around the country, SSU has already locked up a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Last weekend, Savannah State claimed their first ever Mid Eastern Athletic Conference title up in Norfolk, Virginia.  Savannah State defeated eight-time MEAC Champ Bethune-Cookman 1-0 to claim the title.

“It was an amazing win and it’s an honor to be part of history here at Savannah State,” said junior Kyle McGowin.

It was Savannah State’s first conference baseball title since 1999, when they claimed the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference crown when the school was still competing in NCAA Division II. 



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