COLUMBIA, SC – The North Carolina A&T men's track and field jumper Aeneas Reed continued to show off the Aggies depth on Friday. Reed secured his first career win in the men's long jump and his first career win period at the University of South Carolina's Carolina Challenge at the South Carolina Indoor Track and Field Complex.
The A&T women's track and field team also competed and displayed some depth as graduate Ayoola Gbolade finished second in the women's 1-mile morning run. The men finished the day with five top-5 finishes. The women had four.
Reed jumped a personal-record 23-feet, 9 ½-inches to finish 9 ½ inches better than Tennessee's T'Mars McCullum. Last week, Reed jumped an indoor personal-best 22-feet, 10-inches at the HBCU Showcase Challenge. Reed has the No. 1 long jump in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). His previous best finish during the indoor season was a second-place finish at the JDL Fast Track on Jan. 23, 2022.
Gbolade also recorded a personal best on Friday. She finished her mile run at 5:14.31. Teammate Camille Herring did not finish far behind in third place by crossing with a personal-best time of 5:17.23. Junior Ania Campbell provided three Aggies in the top-10 of a distance event when she crossed in 5:30.02 to place ninth.
Gbolade's second-place finish followed her win in the 800 meters at the HBCU Showcase Challenge last weekend. Gbloade's mile time could have her ranked in the top-15 in the conference by the weekend's end.
A&T All-American hurdler Paula Salmon had another impressive showing. She bested her 8.26 60-hurdle time from last week in Friday's 60H preliminary with a time of 8.20. But she finished third in the final with a time of 8.31. Salmon's 60H prelim time could move her into the top-15 nationally. In addition, she has the best CAA time.
Salmon's teammate Lucheyona Weaver ran an 8.39 in the 60H prelims before finishing fourth in the final with a time of 8.34. Weaver is ranked second in the conference behind Salmon in the 60H. On the men's side in the hurdles, freshman Jason Holmes placed fourth with a time of 7.93.
Of course, the Aggie men had some solid showings in the sprints. Freshman Isaac Henderson ran a personal-best 21.99 to finish second behind Tennessee's Aidan McDuffie's 21.84. Three Aggie men finished in the top-5 of the 60m, led by junior Caleb Jackson's 6.83. Graduate Malcolm Croom-McFadden placed fourth with a season-best 6.86 and Henderson finished sixth in 6.90 seconds. The weekend could rank four Aggies in the top-10 of the CAA in the 60m, including Henderson, Brandon Nya, Jackson and Croom-McFadden.
Tomorrow's action will be by invitation only. Those invitational events will include the Aggies men's and women's 4x400-meter relay teams competing.
