WINSTON-SALEM (December 1, 2018) – North Carolina A&T indoor track and field wanted to showcase their young talent Saturday afternoon at the JDL College Kickoff at the JDL Fast Track and they accomplished the mission.
The men won five individual events only to be matched by the women who also won five times to open an indoor season in where the men and the women are trying to 3-peat as Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champions.
“We are going to rely on our veteran athletes to teach our young athletes what it means not to be complacent. To be honest with you I thought we got a little complacent during last year's outdoor (conference championships,” said Duane Ross, the Aggies director of track and field programs, referring to the Aggie men's close call before winning the 2018 MEAC outdoor championships and women's near miss of winning back-to-back outdoor titles after losing to Florida A&M by a half point. “We know now what it means to be the hunted and we're ready for it.”
N.C. A&T certainly did not look complacent Saturday afternoon as a lot of new faces got off to great starts, while some familiar ones looked poised to continue N.C. A&T's track and field excellence. The Aggies even broke two meet records in their season opener.
Freshman Brandon Hicklin jumped a meet-record 23-feet, 10-inches in the men's long jump to surpass the old mark held by S.C. State's Bryson Brown in 2014 by more than four inches. Senior Lasheon Strozier, who has been to an NCAA indoor nationals in his career as a triple jumper, placed sixth in the long jump at JDL with an indoor personal-record best jump of 21-feet, 7 ½-inches.
Sophomore Nazah Reddick also went into the JDL College Kickoff record books on Saturday. Her best high jump was marked at a personal-record 5-feet, 8 ¾-inches to place first. She broke the record of a familiar name in AggieLand as N.C. A&T's Nakita Gray set the old mark in 2013. Her jump was also a school record.
The other first-place finishes from the ladies came from junior G'Jasymne Butler in the 3000m, freshman Kamaya Debose-Epps in the 60m, freshman Monzerad Creary in the 800 meters and freshman Nilaja Florence in 200 meters.
Other first-place N.C. A&T winners on the men's side included junior Robert Miller in the 60-meter hurdles, freshman Regan Kimtai in the 3000 meters, freshman Isai'as Robinson in the 60m and junior Derrick Wheeler in the shot put.
In fact, the Aggies finished 1,2 in the shot put with freshman Obie Taylor finishing second with a throw of 47-feet, 3-inches. Wheeler won the event with a toss of 49-feet, 3 ¾ inches. It was the best indoor throw of his career. Wheeler was also excellent in the weight throw. He finished second with a school record and personal-best throw of 61-feet, 4-inches. Sophomore Aaron Wilkerson finished sixth (49-feet, 11 ¾-inches) and freshman Kevin Fofanah was seventh (49-feet, 3-inches). Wilkerson's weight throw was his personal indoor best.
Miller ran his 60mh race in 8.01 to set a new personal record while teammate and freshman Cedric McGriff ran the 60mh in 8.19 for a third-place finish. Kimtai, who earned first-team All-MEAC honors as a cross country runner this fall, opened his career on the track by running the 3000m in 8:44.70 breaking the school record. His cross country teammates who took home the university's first MEAC title in three decades this past October, all had top-finishes as junior Mar'Quise McGee finished third (8:56.67), freshman Morris Kimble finished fifth (9:05.96) and senior Hakeem Mustafaa placed ninth (9:09.00).
Robinson finished his 60m race in 6.83 followed by fellow freshman Akeem Lindo in third (6.84) and another freshman, Malcolm Croom-McFadden in sixth (6.98). Senior Coy Brown (4:41.09) and junior Daquan Maddox (4:41.64) finished third and fourth in the men's mile run.
On the women's side, Butler looks to follow up her superb cross country season in which she won two races, with an excellent start to the indoor season. Butler finished the 3000 in 10:39.64. Fellow cross country teammate Camille Martin finished fifth in the same event with a time of 11:18.04.
Debose-Epps sprinted to a first-place finish in the 60 in 7.56 followed by junior Charnice Anderson's sixth-place finish in 7.64. Creary finished the 800 in 2:24.58 with junior Khadija Reid coming in third in 2:25.17. Nilaja Florence looks poised to replace multiple conference champion India Brown in the 200. Florence completed her race in 25.42.
Sophomore Royce Johnson finished second in the women's triple with her best leap being measured at 37-feet, 4-inches. In the women's mile, Martin (5:35.44), junior Kristoni Barnes (5:36.40) and freshman Shalah Means finished second, third and fourth respectively. Sophomore Loren James threw a school-record 54-feet, 6-inches to finish third in the women's weight throw.
“The meet was important because it gave our freshmen a chance to start their careers without a lot of pressure, so they showed us what they can do,” said Ross. His team will not compete again in 2018. They will not return to action until they travel to Virginia Tech to participate in the Virginia Tech Invitational, Jan. 11-12.
