May 3, 2008

Complete Results

Baltimore, Md. - The Bethune-Cookman University track & field team collected sixth place in both the men's and women's side of things over the weekend at the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The event was held at Hughes Stadium on the campus of Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md.

For second-year head coach Garfield Ellenwood, this weekend showed the positives and negatives of the program throughout the year. The size of the team is small ... the only negative. The team he has is explosive and coming up in the league fast ... one of MANY positives.

"What I saw this weekend really made me proud of the student-athletes that we have on the team right now," expressed Ellenwood. "I saw a lot of positives and some things we can work on for next year. But I'm very pleased, overall, with this weekend and the way the program is heading."

B-CU junior college transfer Dianne Munroe finished second in the Women's 100 Meter Dash with a time of 11.70 seconds qualifying for the NCAA East Regional. Obviously, first place winner Racquel Vassell of Hampton qualified with a time of 11.69 seconds. Munroe went on to finish third in the 200 Meter Dash with a time of 23.80 seconds.

Joel Redhead won the Men's 200 Meter Dash with an explosive time of 21.03 to register another NCAA East Regional qualification. He went on to win the 400 Meter Dash as well with another NCAA Regional time of 46.30 seconds.

"Joel stepped up to the plate and hit a homerun for us this weekend," expressed Ellenwood. "Dianne Munroe was just a month away, I think, and I know she can win the events that she didn't quite win when she gets to Regionals."

In more women's action, Tavia Burke won the 100 Meter Hurdles as she posted a Regional qualifying time of 13.82 seconds.

Freshman sensation Ronnie Ashe won the Men's 110 Meter Hurdles with a time of 13.59 seconds. For Ashe, the time set was a new MEAC Record in that event, marking the first time a B-CU track & field student-athlete has collected a MEAC historical time. Ashe now ranks sixth (6th) in the nation with his time overall. Team mate Harold Rose, Jr. finished sixth in the event as well. Rose went on to win the Decathlon after finishing second last year.

Eric Cray collected a time of 52.75 seconds in the Men's 400 Meter Hurdles to finish fifth.

B-CU's Women's 4x100 Meter Relay squad posted an NCAA Qualifying time of 45.30 to finish second behind North Carolina A&T. The Wildcats used Tavia Burke, Rockel Mitchell, Christina Roundtree and Dianne Munroe to collect the second place time.

The Men's 4x100 Meter Relay Team had a time of 40.70 seconds to place third overall, with the team consisting of Eric Cray, Joel Redhead, Ronnie Ashe and Harold Rose, Jr.

In other field events, Harold Rose, Jr. also finished fourth in the Men's Pole Vault with a height of 4.10m (13-05.25). Rockel Mitchell collected a fifth place finish in the Women's Long Jump with a distance of 5.80m (19-00.50). Team mate Ron Danielle Williams finished fifth in the Women's Discus Throw with a toss of 41.77m (137-00).

"This was a good way for us to start out in the right direction towards winning a championship in the future," stated Ellenwood. "There are some really good teams and programs in this conference, and I believe we are really making the right strides towards better things by competing with teams like Hampton and Norfolk State in several different ways this weekend."

For the men and women to finish sixth, it was the highest finish in more than five years with both teams ranked in the Top 6 on each side. The individual awards were the most in recent history at B-CU as well, including the new MEAC record set by Ashe in the men's side of things in the 110 Meter Hurdles.

The Hampton University Lady Pirates and Norfolk State University Spartans won the 2008 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hughes Stadium on the campus of Morgan State University.

The Lady Pirates scored 123 points en route to an unprecedented six consecutive MEAC outdoor track and field title. Hampton freshman Raquel Vassell tallied 35.25 points and earned Outstanding Performer accolades. Vassell won the 100m dash (11.69), 200m dash (23.50). She also finished among the top three in the 100m hurdles (14.09), 4x100m (47.23) and 4x400m (3:40.52).

On the men's side the Norfolk State men's team posted 162 points to capture their third straight title and fifth overall. Sophomore Marlon Woods earned Outstanding Performer honors after tallying 28 total points. Woods won the long jump with a 7.95m (26-01 ft.) leap and the high jump with a 2.19 (7-02.25 ft.) jump. He was second in the triple jump with a 15.47m (50-09.25 ft.) leap.

B-CU will now send a few student-athletes to the Georgia Tech Last Chance Relays before traveling to the NCAA East Regional in two weeks. For more information, please call the B-CU Office of Sports Information at (386) 481-2206.