Firebirds Compete at 50th Annual Colonial Relays in Williamsburg

WASHINGTON, DC – The UDC's Women's Track and Field team competed amongst 2,000 student-athletes from 62 Universities and High Schools at the 50^th Annual Colonial Relays in Williamsburg, Virginia on April 3^rd-4^th.

Day 1 presented strong Firebird individual performances in the 400M by senior Jerily Benjamin (Health Education – Queens, NY/Phillip Randolph HS) and junior Marlena Wright (Journalism – Bronx, NY/Dewitt Clinton HS). Benjamin was 7^th in Section 2, running 59.81 for 47^th overall among 97 competitors. Wright was also 7^th in Section 5, and 52^nd overall.

The 200M event featured strong performances by junior Christina Baker (Psychology – Kingston, Jamaica/Collegiate Institute for Math & Science), who ran her collegiate best of 25.97 in the 200M for 4^th in Section 9 and 47^th among a large field of 106 competitors. However, one of the most impressive performances for the Firebirds on the day came from junior Simone Grant (Health Education – Bronx, NY/Pelham Prep Academy), who finished 5^th in Section 2 of the 200M, running a season-best and collegiate-best, 25.06. Just two tenths of a second separated the top six places in a thrilling finish. Grant's impressive performance placed her 15^th fastest amongst the field of 106 competitors.

Grant stellar 200M performance came a few hours after an impressive season-opening try in the Long Jump. Competing in the University section of the event, she finished 5^th overall among 68 competitors with a leap of 5.43M.

Day 2 was dedicated primarily to relays for the Firebirds, but not before the impressive season-debut by junior Myla Somerville (Elementary Education – Loveville, MD/Bowie St.) in the High Jump. In her first meet of the season in the event, she had three solid clearances and a personal- best of 1.50M. She finished 15^th best among 31 competitors in the University section of the High Jump.

In Field Events there also was junior Tatyana Calhoun (Architecture – Dispuntante, VA/Sussex Central HS) throwing 10.85M - just missing her personal-best of 11.00M – but good for 18^th overall among 31 competitors in the University section of the High Jump. 

In the Relays, the 4x100M Relay team of Brittany Okon, Simone Grant, Christina Baker and Jerily Benjamin ran 49.02 for 5^th in Section 2, and 15^th among 31 Teams. The 4x200M team of Okon, Baker, Geordinell Thurston and Shayna Hodge were 2^nd in Heat 3 running 1:47.64 seconds for 13^th out of 21 Teams in the event. The 4x400 team of Kimoy Mais, Jerily Benjamin, Marlena Wright and Simone Grant ran 3:59.12 for 7^th in the seeded Heat. They were 17^th among 30 teams competing in the event.

The Firebirds look to continue building on their 2015 Outdoor campaign as they head to the Hampton Relays on Saturday, April 11th.