Firebirds Flourish with Six First-Place Finishes at Battleground Relays

FREDERICKSBURG, VA - The University of the District of Columbia Women's Track & field team had an imposing, six first-place finishes at the Battleground Relays hosted by the University of Mary Washington on Saturday, April 1^st. The Firebirds finished 2nd of 17 total women's teams competing on the day with a team score of 104.5.

Freshman Shannell Hibbert highlighted the team's success with three first-place finishes. She was 1^st in the 100M Hurdles by running a time of 15.64s, she ran on the winning 4x100M Relay team which finished in a time of 48.51s, and she tied for 1^st place with her teammate, freshman Niasia Harding, in the 200M by running a time of 25.57s.

Harding also boasted a 2^nd place finish in the 400M Hurdles with a time of 1:04.94, while junior Shayna Hodge sealed a 4^th place finish with a time of 1:10.21.

Senior Brittany Okon posted a season best and event winning 5.53M leap in the long jump, while freshman Deasia Greer came in 5^th with a leap of 4.98M. Greer also managed a 4^th place finish in the 400M by running a time of 59.71s.

UDC's 4x100M Relay team, which included Stacy-Ann Rowe, Shannell Hibbert, Brittany Okon and Jasmine Walker, captivated the UMW crowd as it triumphed over 10 other teams with a 1^st place time of 48.51s.

The Firebirds also impressed in the 4x400M Relay as both squads –Team A (Deasia Greer, Shannell Hibbert, Temera Duncan, Niasia Harding) and Team B (Kenlyn Duncan, Shayna Hodge, Dabrin Snorton, Jasmine Walker) ran times of 4:06.00 and 4:26.29, respectively.

In the 400M event, freshman Temera Duncan sealed a 1^st place finish with a time of 59.99s. Junior Kenlyn Duncan also finished just outside of the top ten with an 11^th place finish at 1:04.03.

Meanwhile, junior Stacy-Ann Rowe added a top-5 finish to her performance in the 4x100M Relay. In the 100M Preliminaries, Rowe finished 4^th with a time of 12.85s. Then, in the 100M finals, Rowe secured a 3^rd place finish with a time of 12.70s.

Also, in their collegiate track & field debut, twin sisters and UDC Women's Basketball team members Bailee and Bianca White finished in the top-10 in the High Jump event. Bailee finished 3^rd with a leap of 1.43M, while Bianca finished 6^th with a leap 1.38M.

Next up, UDC will travel to Fairfax, VA to compete in the George Mason Invitational on April 8^th.