May 15, 2011
PRINCETON, N.J. -- With a strong performance on the second day of the ECAC and IC4A Championships, UMES has qualified for nine finals on Sunday, the final day of competition. Saturday consisted of preliminary track events, including individual and relay runs, and the beginning of field competition.
In the IC4A, Mustapha Habbani (Berkane, Morocco) set another school record this season, getting 12th place in the 1500-meter run to qualify for the final round with a time of 3:49.70. He broke a 46-year-old mark set by Carver King in 1965, who ran the event in 3:54.0.
UMES will have three runners compete in final round dashes on Sunday. Nyls Nubret (St. Francois, Guadeloupe) qualified with an eighth-spot finish of 10.81 seconds in the 100-meter dash. Damian Miles (Teaneck, N.J.) will run in the 200-meter dash final after getting 3rd place in the prelims with a time of 21.31 seconds. Finally, Thomas Keane-Dawes (Camden, N.C.) earned a spot in the 400-meter dash finals with a run of 47.38, the sixth best time.
Miles was just .01 second behind Nubret for the tenth-highest finish in the 100-meter dash. Marcus Wallace (Abington, Pa.) and Keane-Dawes had strong finishes in the 200-meter dash at 21.64 for 10th and 21.71 seconds for 12th respectively.
In the hurdling competition, a pair of fourth place preliminary finishes will send two runners to the final rounds. Ackeem Smith (St. Catherine, Jamaica) finished the 110-meter hurdles in 14.37 seconds, while Andre Walsh (St. Catherine, Jamaica) will head to the 400-meter hurdles final with a time of 51.93 seconds.
Jermol Dix (Catonsville, Md.) performed well in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.70 seconds, the 13th-best finish but not enough for the final round.
Two UMES relay teams will compete on Sunday after strong runs on the second day. The 4x100-meter relay team of Smith, Dwayne Powell (Mitchellville, Md.), Nubret and Wallace finished the event in 41.33 seconds for the 7th-fastest finish. The UMES team of Walsh, Keane-Dawes, Wallace and Donohue Williams (Kingston, Jamaica) qualified for the finals of the 4x400-meter relay with a run of 3:13.12.
The men's side completed day two of competition with the discus throw, where Marcus Brown (Gaithersburg, Md.) had a toss of 47.95 meters for 18th place.
The women's side competed in three events in the ECAC Championship on Saturday, qualifying for two final rounds.
Cynthia Anais (Martinique, France) had the team's best finish in the 800-meter run this season, completing the event in 2:08.28 for the third-highest finish and a spot in the finals. Teammate Emilie Ducados (Paris, France) had a solid finish despite not getting a final round invite, finishing in 2:13.45, 13th best in the ECAC.
The women's 4x400-meter relay team finished in ninth, with the squad of Ducados, Melina Gallas (Paris, France), Monique Hawkins (Randallstown, Md.) and Anais ran for a total time of 3:44.52 and good for the final round.
Hawkins also competed in the 200-meter dash, crossing the finish line in 24.98 seconds, the 18th-fastest time.
Sunday will see all final heats in the track events plus the conclusion of field competition.
