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Jan. 19, 2008

Scored Results
Heptathlon Results

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Navy men's track & field middle distance runner produced the fifth-fastest 500-meter run time in program history to lead the Midshipmen to a first-place team score against Mount St. Mary's, UNC-Wilmington and William & Mary on Saturday in Halsey Field House.

The Mids (6-1) overcame sickness that struck many on the team to win 10 of the 17 scored events in totaling 207 points, while UNC-Wilmington placed second with 176 points, William & Mary came in third with 98 points and Mount St. Mary's finished fourth with 79 points.

"Today was not a bad day considering the sickness we had going around. I was really concerned and had to make some adjustments," stated Navy head coach Stephen Cooksey. "We came through with some decent performances and now we have to get healthy. We could not get too emotional and just did our job, step by step."

Harris, who was hit by the sickness bug earlier in the week, delivered a first-place, IC4A time of 1:01.80 in the 500-meter run on Saturday. Not only was his time the fifth-best in school history, it was the second-fastest time by a Navy runner in Halsey Field House history. The clocking was 0.96-second off the program-benchmark set by Michael Greene, who holds the top-four all-time times, in 1987. Harris's performance was also 1.28 seconds better than his performance two weeks ago at Princeton.

Harris also ran in the first-place 4x400-meter relay with Jake Palmer (Fr./Plymouth, Ind.), Craig Meekins (Sr./Baldwin, N.Y.) and James Stratton (Fr./Lancaster, Pa.). The quartet produced a time of 3:20.02.

"Paul was out for a couple of days this week because he was sick. So, we had to adjust to have him in the 500-meter run instead of the 800-meter run," said Cooksey. "He ran a smooth and smart race. He's a very talented runner."

Also earning a spot in the IC4A Championship on the track Saturday was rookie Andrew Hanko (Fr./Montville, N.J.). Hanko ran an impressive 8:26.06 in the 3,000-meter run to win the event by 12.07 seconds. His performance was just 5.00 seconds off the team's season-best time set by John Olsen at Princeton.

Two Navy throwers produced IC4A distances for the third-consecutive week to win their events. Christopher Bordino (Jr./Gastonia, N.C.) uncorked a career-best mark of 56'10" (17.32 meters) in the weight throw during the morning. Darryl Hunter (Sr./Des Moines, Iowa) shattered his indoor shot put personal record for the second-straight week with a toss of 55'11" (17.04 meters).

The Midshipmen also claimed victories in five other track events. Vince Carpentier (So./Branchburg, N.J.) paced the field in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.28 seconds, prior to which Meekins won the 800-meter run with a 1:54.59 showing. Gavin MacGarva (Jr./Bellevue, Wash.) led all runners in the mile with his 4:17.16 clocking, followed by Matlack Gillin's (So./Oreland, Pa.) first-place time of 2:34.70 in the 1,000-meter run.

Navy's distance medley relay finished first to conclude the track portion of the scored meet. The youthful group of Tyler Morrison (So./Okemos, Mich.), David Ash (Fr./Williamston, Mich.), James Adair (Fr./Birmingham, Ala.) and Aaron Foote (Fr./Niagara Falls, N.Y.) combined for a 10:27.16 clocking.

In the non-team scored heptathlon, Ron Belany (Sr./Haiku, Hawai'i) best his own school record with an IC4A-qualifying total of 5,218 points. Belany bested the competition in four of the seven events, scoring higher than 800 points in the 55-meter hurdles (7.81 seconds, 900 points), pole vault (15'5", 819 points) and long jump (23'0", 816 points). His performance was just 82 points of earning NCAA Championship provisional-qualifying status.

The Midshipmen will head on the road next weekend to compete in the Penn State National Open on Jan. 25-26, at the Ashenfelter Multi-Sport Facility.