Track & Field | 4/16/2022 10:09:00 PM
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – One of the best 400-meter runners in the world made his 2022 collegiate outdoor debut in the 400 on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the North Carolina A&T women's 4x100-meter relay team continued to have an outstanding season as the A&T men's and women's outdoor track and field teams competed during the second day of the University of Florida's Tom Jones Invitational at Percy Beard Track.
Olympic gold medalist Randolph Ross Jr., who qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 400M and the 4x400, is the reigning NCAA national outdoor champion in the 400M. The defending champ ran his first outdoor 400 of the season after winning the indoor 400M national championship in March.
He ran a 45.15 to beat Florida's Ryan Willie, who finished in 45.16. Ross's time is fourth-best in the nation, a little off the pace of Iowa's Jenoah Mckiver, who is No. 1 at 44.74.
Ross's sister, Jonah, is a part of one of the nation's best 4x100 women's teams. The 400-meter relay team opened the season by winning at NC. State's Raleigh Relays in 44.61 on March 21. The following week, they won the Florida Relays at the UF with a time of 42.91.
On Saturday, the team of graduate Symone Darius, freshman Grace Nwokocha, senior Kamaya Debose-Epps and Ross did not win. But they were the top collegiate team, finishing second in 42.83 behind Tumbleweed Track Club (42.33). The foursome is ranked fourth in the nation after another successful outing.
The men got into the act as well. The 4x100 team of seniors Tavarius Wright and Daniel Stokes and sophomore Javonte' Harding and Ross Jr. finished in 38.61. They were also the top collegiate team at Florida as the foursome finished third behind Adidas and Tumbleweed Track Club.
Their Saturday performance ranks second in the nation behind Florida's 38.47 recorded last month at the University of Texas.
Graduate Paula Salmon also had a fabulous day. She ran a personal-best 12.63 in the 100 hurdles to finish third. Salmon shattered her previous best of 12.79 at the 2021 NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round to move into fourth nationally.
After moving three ladies into the top-15 nationally in the 200M on Friday, the Aggies did the same for the 100M on Saturday. Nwokocha finished third in 11.13 and is ranked ninth nationally. Darius crossed the finish line in 11.17 to earn a No.11 ranking. Debose-Epps placed sixth after recording an 11.23, and she is 15th in the country.
The Aggies have the top-3 100M sprinters in the Big South Conference in Nwokocha, Darius and Debose-Epps. They also have the top-5 200M in the league in Debose-Epps, Nwokocha, Ross, graduate Delecia McDuffie and Darius. Also on the ladies' side, McDuffie ran a personal-best 51.96 to finish third in the 400M. She is seventh in the nation and No. 1 in the Big South.
Harding, who won the 200M on Friday, finished the 100M on Saturday in 10.19 to finish 11th. He enters the East Prelim discussion as his time ranks him 25th nationally. Harding is the fastest man in the Big South after Saturday's performance.
Senior Rasheem Brown ran in the 110H preliminary and finished in 13.62. He did not run the final, but his 13.62 came up just short of the personal-best 13.59 he ran last week at A&T's Aggie Invitational at Marcus T. Johnson Track.
The Aggies return to Marcus T. Johnson Track April 22-23 for the Aggie Classic.
