April 28, 2014
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The Penn Relays, which has been held in Philadelphia continuously since 1894, displays some of the finest track athletes from colleges and high schools across the country. Among the crowds of performers were several Hawks, and almost all of them came away with top five honors, some in several events. But it was the relay teams that had the best results of all for the Hawks, and in particular, the three seniors who ran in every single relay race for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES).
The trio of seniors Javon Spencer (Montego Bay, Jamaica), Ramone Waite (Kingston, Jamaica) and Aaron Chatmon (Waldorf, Md.) ran in two 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 relay races, along with a fourth Hawk in every race. The team finished first in the 4x100 relay's "C" heat with fellow senior Rico Taylor (Silver Spring, Md.) running the first leg with a time of 40.68 seconds, then followed that with a 40.77 second, 2nd place performance in the 4x100 IC4A race.
In the 4x200 relay, the team earned first place in Heat #6 with a 1:25.64, with freshman Michael Johnson (Ramstein AFB, Germany) assisting with the final leg. Then with another freshman, Jared Kerr (Brampton, Ontario, Canada), they earned a second place finish in the IC4A race with a time of 1:24.90.
Finally, the trio was rejoined with Johnson for the 4x400 races, where in Heat #5 the team earned their third overall win of the weekend with a time of 3:11.82. They improved on that time with a 3:09.43 performance in the IC4A race, where they finished third.
The Lady Hawks also had fine relay performances, as the team of senior Gayon Evans (Clarendon, Jamaica), sophomores Jheniel Kelly (Edgewood, Md.) and Shantol Hemley (St. Catherine's, Jamaica) and junior Annis Mars (Brooklyn, N.Y.) finished second in their heat of the 4x400 relay with a time of 3:47.41, which earned a qualification for a collegiate final. The trio of Hemley, Mars, and Kelly, along with freshman Rachel Halmon (Waldorf, Md.), who replaced Evans because of her commitments to the 100 meter dash event, then finished eighth in the final with a time of 3:46.93, as well as a fifth place finish in the 4x800 college race with a time of 8:58.27.
In other events, freshmen Orwell Maylor (St. Catherine's, Jamaica) and Kerr finished third and fourth in the event with times of 55.05 and 55.72, respectively, in the 400 meter hurdles. Kerr also competed in the long jump Taylor finished ninth in the high jump with a 2.04 meters, tied for his second best finish of the season. Evans qualified in the 100 meter dash with a second place time of 11.91 seconds, and then finished fifth in the 100 meter college finals with a time of 11.66 seconds.
As for the throwing events, junior Dillon Simon (Pottersville, Dominica) finished 8th in the shot put with his season-best throw of 18.05 meters, along with a 9th place finish in the discus with a toss of 53.83 meters. Senior Shawnata Young (Temple Hills, Md.) finished 11th in the women's shot put with a 12.78 meter toss.
The Penn Relays concludes the regular season and sets them up for the postseason. That begins this weekend with the MEAC Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, before heading to Princeton, New Jersey in mid-April for the IC4A/ECAC Championships.
