Firebirds Compete at Hampton Relays

HAMPTON, VA - Nearing the midpoint of its Outdoor Season, the University of the District of Columbia women's outdoor track & field team headed south this past weekend, looking for warmer temperatures to compete at the Hampton Relays. Though the weather didn't cooperate, there were strong performances from the Firebirds in several events.

Opening with the 100M Prelims, junior Jasmine Walker was 5^th of eight runners in the first heat with a time of 12.64s, which was 22^nd of the 40 competitors in the event. Her teammate, sophomore Stacy-Ann Rowe, was 4^th in the next heat in a time of 12.43s, finishing 16^th overall.

Meanwhile, there was also action taking place immediately in the field, with freshman Saida Burns-Moore continuing her consistent performances in the High Jump. She cleared 1.63M to finish 2^nd in the High Jump in the field of 11 competitors.

Action returned to the track with the Firebirds lining up in the 4x100M. The quartet of Rowe, Walker, Brittany Okon and Jerily Benjamin were 6^th of eight in the 2^nd  heat with a time of 48.36s. They finished 7^th overall among 11 teams in the event.

Next event on the track for the Firebirds was the 400M. Benjamin was 5^th in Heat 5 with a time of 57.77s, which was 13^th among 37 competitors. Her teammate, Simone Grant, ran out a comfortable winner of her heat with a time of 57.43s - good for 8^th fastest overall.

Back in the field, Brittany Okon turned in a big performance in the Long Jump, leaping to a new personal best of 5.43M, which was good for 11^th among 27 jumpers on the day. Good performances on the runway continued, with Burns-Moore also having a season-best performance in the Triple Jump. Her best jump of 11.33M was 7^th among the field of 20.

Later, the Firebirds also saw good performances from several athletes in the 200M. Walker was 3^rd in Heat 4 with a time of 26.10s, right behind Rowe, who finished 2^nd with a time of 25.99s. Benjamin won Heat 5 with a time of 25.81s, which was 19^th in the field of 51. The best performance on the day for the Firebirds, though, was Grant's 2^nd place finish in Section 6 of the event - running a time of 25.44s, which was 11^th overall.

That closed out the competition for the Firebirds on the day, and they will now look to take that momentum into the Conference Championship being held in Rochester, NY on Saturday, April 23^rd at Roberts Wesleyan College.

"Though the weather wasn't ideal, we had some competitive performances, especially in the field with a personal best from Brittany Okon in the Long Jump. We're heading into the Conference Championship with a healthy team so that's all we could ask for," head coach Alton McKenzie said.