Track and Field continue strong showings in RVA
Last weekend, the men’s and women’s track and field teams remained in RVA for the University of Richmond’s Fred Hardy Invitational, where they had another strong showing, especially for the women’s team and the throwers for the men.
Sophia Belletti
Contributing Writer
Last weekend, the men’s and women’s track and field teams remained in RVA for the University of Richmond’s Fred Hardy Invitational, where they had another strong showing, especially for the women’s team and the throwers for the men.
On the men’s end, senior thrower Brandon Ruffin had a big night for the Rams. Ruffin won the shot put event, with a throw of 16.07-meters and the discus with a throw of 50.26-meters. Senior teammate Ryan Coles just missed the podium, finishing fourth in both shot put and the discus with a mark of 15.33-meters.
Throwers continued to dominate, with Ruffin leading the way. He registered a third place finish with a mark of 51.06-meters. Coles earned fifth with a 48.20-meter throw and senior Benjamin Melton threw 44.26-meters for a ninth place finish.
In the triple jump, sophomore Racheed Davis finished third with a jump of 13.83-meters. In the 400-meter hurdles, junior Kyle Martin finished in second place at 54.11 seconds. Martin also finished in the top-5 in the 110-meter hurdle with a time of 15.03.
Senior Matt Earman won the 10,000-meter run, crossing the line at 32:22.02 and beating his opponent by 35 seconds.
In the 800-meter run, senior Mohamed Adam earned a fourth place finish at 1:55.41.
Sophomore Austin Lushinski crossed the line at 9:12.04 in the 3,000-meter run, finishing sixth.
Lastly for the men’s team, the 4×400-meter relay made up of seniors George Moore and Khalid Khamis and freshmen Kahlil Shepard and Nicholas Buckingham, recorded a second place finish at 3:20.81.
The women’s end had an equally solid weekend, with several Rams recording top-5 finishes.
Both the 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter relay teams took home the gold for VCU. The 4×100-meter team, made up of senior Alexis Stroman, juniors Verna Hilaire-Lee and Jessica Ewing and sophomore De’Nisha Smith, won by two seconds with a 46.67 time. In the 4×400-meter seniors Kiara Porter, Nicole Grasty and Qualitra Brown and freshman Nichelle Scott crossed the line at 3:48.34.
Junior Carina Peter and freshman Jasmine Lackey took the top-2 spots in the triple jump. Peter recorded a jump of 11.80-meters to to take the gold, while Lackey had a mark of 11.23-meters. Peter also finished in the top-5 in the long jump with a leap of 5.29-meters.
In the high jump, sophomore Christina Solomon tied for second with a mark of 1.60-meters.
Sophomore Emily Dyke recorded a top-5 finish among a deep field in the 1500-meter run in a time of 4:36.77. Dyke also recorded the highest finish among VCU runners, crossing the 800-meter finish line at 2:15.07 and placing fourth.
Senior Niema Eaves finished in the top-10 at 2:19.68. Hilaire-Lee took home second in the 100-meter dash at 12.35.
In the 400-meter dash, Scott earned a fourth place finish with a 57.43 time. Brown and senior Amethyst Polk took top-5 finishes in the 200-meter dash at 25.00 and 25.72, respectively.
