Firebirds Boast Strong Performances at Competitive Kehoe Twilight Meet
COLLEGE PARK, MD - Despite having a small number of competitors, the Kehoe Twilight Meet highlighted season's best performances from several Firebirds at this late season meet geared towards athletes looking to sure up places for post-season meets.
The Firebirds started the day in the field with senior Shauna-Kay Creary (Accounting – Kingston, Jamaica/St. Andrew HS) in the High Jump and senior Kaydian Jones (Journalism – Kingston, Jamaica/St. Andrew HS) in the Long Jump. Creary was able to clear 1.58M to finish 9th in a very strong field of competitors. Jones had a stellar performance in the Long Jump with a season and personal best of four jumps over 5.70M. She jumped an NCAA Provisional qualifying mark of 5.80M on her 4th jump to become the longest jumper in school history. This mark places her 27th in Division II Nationally. She would finish 3rd best overall (and 2nd best among collegians) in a field of seven jumpers.
Jones would later run from the pit to the 100M to join her teammate, sophomore, Simone Grant (Health Education – Bronx, NY/Pelham Prep Academy) on the line. Both ran season bests with Grant finishing 5th among seven competitors with a time of 12.52 and Jones running 12.12 to finish 2nd.
Next on the track were the 400M runners. Sophomore Marlena Wright (Journalism – Bronx, NY/Dewitt Clinton HS) ran a season best in a very competitive 400M, finishing in 58.63 for 14th best. Junior Jerily Benjamin (Health Education – Queens, NY/Phillip Randolph HS) also ran in the 400M and finished 9th overall with a time of 57.36 seconds.
The Firebirds then returned to the Field where Creary leaped 11.63M in the Triple Jump to finish 7th overall.
The 200M wrapped up action for the Firebirds on the evening where Grant ran her collegiate best time of 25.17 to finish 3rd best in a field of seven runners. Meanwhile, Jones was just barely caught at the wire and edged out for the win, running 24.77 seconds (also her Outdoor season best) for 2nd place.
Head coach Alton McKenzie said he is thrilled his team is taking advantage of the opportunities it has competing this late in the season.
"We've had a tremendous Outdoor season - and a long one, at that - so to have student-athletes running season bests at this meet says a lot about their consistency and competitiveness," McKenzie said. "To be able to compete with Penn State, Georgetown and the University of Maryland is a privilege and we're happy we had an opportunity to continue looking to get better on the Track & in the Field as we get close to the National Championship portion of our season. It is definitely a privilege to still be competing this late in the college season."
The Firebirds will compete next week, May 9th at the Virginia Team Challenge in Charlottesville, VA.
