Results

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The month of rest paid off for the Hawks' track & field teams when they arrived to compete in the Villanova Open on Staten Island. Although there were no record-setting performances, all Hawks contributed with consistently good races and field events, leading to a runner up finish for the women and a third place spot for the men.

The Lady Hawks scored a total of 105 points to take that runner up spot, while the men tallied 69 points to earn third. Villanova won their own meet on both the men's and women's side.

Junior Shelasia Leitch (Newark, N.J.) proved to be the top Lady Hawk performer with her victory in the 60 meter hurdles. She took both the preliminaries and the finals with times of 8.76 and 8.77 seconds, respectively. She then finished fifth in the long jump with a distance of 5.46 meters.

Several other Hawk ladies secured top ten finishes as well. Sophomore Dypna Umunakwe (Bronx, N.Y.) captured eighth in the 200 meter with a time of 25.37 seconds, and freshman Alicia Colson (Upper Marlboro, Md.) earned a new collegiate high of 59.04 seconds while placing seventh. Two other Hawks took top tens in the mid-distance events, with freshman junior Lenneisha Gilbert (Miami, Fla.) finishing tenth in the 800 meter run and junior Jennaya Hield (Freeport, Bahamas) placing ninth in the mile.

In the field events, junior Shauntel Lucius (Newark, N.J.) was also effective in jumps, taking third in the triple jump, measuring out to 11.78 meters. Sophomores Regyn Davis-Young (Lanham, Md.) and Nicovia Carter (Upper Marlboro, Md.) brought home top ten spots in both the shot put and weight throw, with Carter setting a new collegiate high in the weight throw with a toss of 13.66 meters and Davis-Young earning a third place finish in the shot put. Senior Donisha Porter (Aberdeen, Md.) also finished in the top five in the shot put, coming right behind Davis-Young in fourth.

The men's team was led by a pair of top five finishes in the mile run from junior Khalil Rmidi Kinini (Malaga, Spain) and freshman Jordan Leon (Baltimore, Md.). Leon came in fifth with a time of 4:20.72 while Rmidi Kinini won the event at a clip of 4:15.96. Khalil's Spanish counterpart and Hawk sophomore Oussama Chouati (Malaga, Spain) placed in the top ten in the 3000 meter, coming in ninth place with a time of 8:46.69.

Junior Naje Benton (Philadelphia, Pa.) continued his torrid pace in the triple jump, improving from his last meet to 14.58 meters at Villanova. That mark earned him a second place finish. Senior Rico Duncan (Cheverly, Md.) also had a good showing with a throw of 15.71 meters in the weight throw, which was good enough to win the event.

Both the men's and the women's 4x400 relay teams raced to top ten finishes to close out the meet. The men's squad ran a time of 3:24.37 to place eighth, and the women sprinted to a time of 3:54.41 to take fourth place.

UMES will travel back to Staten Island this Saturday for the Great Dane Classic. The meet begins at 10 in the morning.