Albany State and Fort Valley State rolled in to Atlanta from
South Georgia and ran away with both the Men’s and Women’s
SIAC Track & Field Championships held at Morehouse College,
April 17-19. The Rams scored an amazing 286.50 points to win
the Men’s Trophy. Fort Valley three-peted as conference
champs winning with 284 points.
Josiah Lagat of Morehouse College receives his Outstanding
Track Athlete award from Coach of the Year Darlene Moore
of Fort Valley State.
Ft. Valley State's Ebony McMath just missed scoring in
the women's triple jump.
The Lady Wildcats were joined atop the leader board by the
runner-up Lady Rams with 236 points. Clark Atlanta finished
in third with 145 points. On the men’s side Morehouse
notched a solid second scoring 205.50 points to third place
Fort Valley’s 85 points.
Seven of the Women’s and six of the Men’s finals
were completed on Friday, April 18, 2003. Josiah Lagat (Morehouse)
won a super human double winning the 10000 M and the 3000 M
Steeplechase. Lagat bested Benedict’s Orinthal Striggles
in both races.
Albany State swept the Men’s Long Jump as Eddie McDuffie
and Brandon Roulon went 1-2. Alvin Smith (FVSU) picked up 20
points for the Wildcats taking 1st in both the Shot Put and
Hammer Throw. Smith’s winning throws (15.68m and 32.70m)
were never in jeopardy.
The Rams broke out their brooms again sweeping the top two
spots in the decathlon. Nathaniel Roberson’s 6608 points
were a full 1300 points ahead of the rest of the field. A single
point decided second place, but it was enough for Teddrick
Brown to push Paine’s James Robinson to the third spot.
It was an all Lady Wildcat affair in the 3000m Steeplechase,
as Latosha Rogers, Vernika Reeves, and Janelle Hamilton exhausted
the competition in this grueling event. Rogers win gave her
a double on the day with her earlier win in the 10000m.
The Lady Rams got in on some of the double points action placing
first and second in the long jump. Alicia Anthony and Latoyia
Johnson sailed 5.93m and 5.73m respectively to clinch the top
two spots.
In the weighty events, the Lady Wildcats rolled placing first
in four of the five events. Except for Laquanda Nichols’ (Tuskegee)
win in the shot, the day belonged to FVSU’s Rachaunna
Williams, Jessica Escobedo and Eve Edmonds. Williams took first
in the discus and hammer throws, while Escobedo placed third
in the shot, second in the discus and first in the javelin
throw. Eve Edmonds picked up a third place finish in the hammer
throw.
Nikki Hill picked up Clark-Atlanta’s only first place
finish of the day with a win in the heptathlon. Her 4184 points
was trailed by Ebony McMath (FVSU) 4055 points and Yasmine
Malone’s (Albany St) 3877.
Saturday’s finale run under mixing weather conditions
held true to the pattern set on Friday with the Rams and Lady
Wildcats leading the meet.
The day started with the always exciting 4x100m relay. A few
ticks past forty seconds later and the Rams had their first
relay victory of the day. Tuskegee and Morehouse battled for
the next two spots with the Tigers anchor pulling away down
the stretch.
Albany completed a rare sweep as the Lady Rams out ran Fort
Valley and Tuskegee to the tape in 46.62 seconds to win the
women’s 4x100m relay.
Josiah Lagat kept up his winning ways with a victory in the
1500m, his second over Orinthal Striggles (Benedict). Striggles
gained a little payback defeating Lagat in the 5000m.
Latosha Rogers continued her onslaught on the distance events
with a win in the 5000m, her third. The win allowed Rogers
to finish the meet without losing a race.
Rosemarie Browne turned it up after a slow 800m stretching
the field to win the women’s 1500m. Atasha Wright and
Lameka McGhee weren’t able to make up much ground in
the last 200m finishing 2nd and 3rd.
Hosting Morehouse claimed their first sprint victory in the
second race of the day the 100m hurdles. Javonie Small ran
away from the pack cruising to the line in 14.64 seconds. Decathlete
Nathaniel Roberson ran a not so distant second for the Rams.
Mario Anthony (Benedict) rounded out the top three.
Ebony McMath gave the Lady Wildcats another first place finish
edging CAU’s Nikki Hill and Albany’s Lurton Nobles
in the women’s 100m hurdles.
Both Small and McMath doubled up on the day adding the 400m
hurdles to their win totals.
Reginald Collins kicked off the Rams sprint sweep edging Harry
Williams (Tuskegee) in the 100m. The women’s 100m final
wasn’t as neat. 400m and 200 m specialist Jessica Render
(FVSU) jumped out on Albany State’s Alicia Anthony in
the first 50 meters. At the 60 meters mark Render (running
tight on the line) was unintentionally hit by Anthony on the
inside arm knocking her off stride. The contact didn’t
seem to bother Anthony as she went on for the win.
Seeing the Lady Wildcats in the top two spots was beginning
to become commonplace in the track events. Jessica Render and
Marion Gould added to the growing string placing first and
second in the 400m. The Albany men tried to reproduce their
1-2 finish in the preliminaries, but Benedict’s Reynado
Williams squeezed in between Sterling Gray and Eddie McDuffie.
Gray may have run faster than his winning 46.59 s, except he
throttled back the engines 20 meters from the tape.
In the 800m, Michael Beatie snagged Clark-Atlanta’s
only first place finish for the men’s team. ASU’s
Orin Hamer and Charles Love finished in the next two spots
crossing the line within inches of each other.
After finishing 8th in the 400m, Rosemarie Browne stepped
right back on the track to blow away the field with a stunning
performance in the 800m. Browne distanced herself from the
field midway into the second 400m winning easily over the rested
field. The win in the 800m gave Browne her second of the day
and second over Clark Atlanta’s Atasha Wright and Lameka
McGhee. Wright and McGhee finished in the same order in the
1500m and 800m.
The men’s 200 m dash ended like the Rams had hoped the
400m would have finished, with a sweep of the top two spots.
Sterling Gray powered down the middle 100m to win by 10m. Reginald
Collins claimed second getting heat from Tuskegee’s Harry
Williams.
Jessica Render finished what she set out to do in the 100m
defeating lane neighbor Alicia Anthony from start to finish.
The two raced in adjoining lanes for all three races.
On the infield grass Nikki Hill traded in her sprinter spikes
to win the women’s high jump with a leap of 1.64m. Her
win allowed the Lady Panthers to claim their first 1-2 finish
as Sameelah Reed placed second with fewer attempts at 1.60m
than Albany’s Yasmine Malone.
Morehouse added another first place finish in an attempt to
catch the Rams. Jared Stearne grabbed the top spot in the high
jump and Dayne Cameron matched it with a win in the triple
jump. The Tigers failed to gain any ground as the Rams finished
2nd and 3rd in both events.
While Sameelah Reed was taking second in the high jump, her
twin Sameerah was winning the triple jump. Sameerah hop, skipped
and jumped to 11.82m far beyond Albany’s second and third
place finishers sophomore Janelle Herring and Tiffany Peterson.
The Lady Rams went back-to-back again with a 1-2 finish in
the pole vault. Dimitri Galbreath and Camiela Payton out-vaulted
Ebony McMath of Fort Valley. Albany’s male pole vaulters
went one better, sweeping the top three spots. Teddrick Brown
made the sweep started by Eddie McDuffie and Janorris Terrell
possible by jumping 3.36m in fewer attempts than Morehouse’s
Olvinn Lumpkin.
Alvin Smith continued his mastery of weight throwing with
a 1st and 3rd finish in the javelin and discus. Scotty Pittman
(ASU) whirled the discus nearly 47m to win the event. Jessica
Escobedo (FVSU) out-heaved Shirley Lavoile (Paine) and Tiffany
Peterson (ASU) to win the women’s javelin.
Fort Valley State blocked the Lady Rams bid to sweep the relays
with clean exchanges in the 4x400m. The Lady Panthers finished
third thanks to a strong 2nd leg by Jonnie Williams.
There would be no denying the Rams relay sweep as anchor Sterling
Gray reeled in Morehouse and Fort Valley to win with room to
spare in the final event of the meet.
