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March 1, 2007

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy men's track & field team will split its squad up to compete in two separate meets one week prior to the NCAA Championship this weekend. Some of the Midshipmen will compete at the Alex Wilson Invitational on Friday and Saturday in Notre Dame, Ind., while the remaining qualifiers will partake in the IC4A Championship in Boston on Saturday and Sunday.

Navy will travel juniors Paul Harris (Woodbury, Minn.), Jeff Sarchione (Alliance, Ohio), William Ricks (Sussex, Va.) and Ben Kozy (Houston, Texas) to the Alex Wilson Invitational this weekend. The Midshipmen will compete in the distance medley relay on Friday evening, before slotting Harris in the 800-meter run on Saturday morning.

Navy's distance medley relay team produced a NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 9:41.71 at the Iowa State Classic in February. The clocking currently ranks 10th in the nation and third fastest in school history.

During that same meet, Harris became the first Navy runner to break the 1:50.00 mark in the 800-meter run on the indoor track. He provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championship with a time of 1:48.46, which enters the weekend as the third-fastest time in the country. His effort is only 0.86-second off the nation's quickest time held by Lopez Lomong of Northern Arizona.

Ten Midshipmen will make the trip up to Boston for the IC4A Championship with the hopes of posting a NCAA qualifying mark and advancing the to the national championship next weekend. Last season, Navy racked up 25.5 points to finish ninth out of 51 schools.

In addition to Harris, junior Craig Meekins (Baldwin, N.Y.) could make a push for the national championship in the 800-meter run. He owns three of the team's five-fastest time this year, including a 1:51.48 clocking at the Iowa State Classic. He has finished ahead of the IC4A-qualifying mark five times this season.

Navy will have two competitors in both the high jump and 3,000-meter run events this weekend. Seniors Stephen White (Marietta, Ga.) and Cole Herron (Sanger, Calif.) will partake in the high jump after each earned all-league honors two weeks ago. White owns the team's best height of the year, a 6'10-3/4" (2.10 meters) clearance in Halsey Field House back in January. Herron surpassed the 6'9-3/4" (2.08 meters) bar at the Iowa State Classic one month ago.

Sophomore Andrew Grant (Athens, Ga.) and junior John Kress (Colorado Springs, Colo.) will see action in the 3,000-meter run event. Grant enters the weekend with the team's best time of 8:23.32 at the Iowa State Classic and Kress registered an 8:28.16 clocking at Army one month ago.

Rounding out the Midshipmen contingent on the track in Boston will be senior Cameron Lindsay (Kernersville, N.C.) and junior Lucas Burke (Bakersfield, Calif.). Lindsay will race in the 500-meter run following four IC4A-qualifying times this season, with his best effort coming in a 1:04.19 showing at the Penn State National Open. Burke will see action in the 1,000-meter run, where his season-best clocking of 2:27.77 also came the Penn State National Open.

Junior shot putter Darryl Hunter (Des Moines, Iowa) looks to lead the Mids in the field events this weekend. He has won the shot put in each of his five meets this year, providing IC4A-qualifying marks in each of his efforts. His best performance came two weeks ago at the Patriot League Championship, where he uncorked a career-best throw of 55'4-1/4" (16.87 meters).

Junior Dante Marshall (Hermitage, Pa.) owns the team's eight-best distances in the triple jump this season, seven of which surpass the IC4A mark. He registered a career-best length at the Iowa State Classic with a distance of 48'11-1/2" (14.92 meters). Classmate Ron Belany (Haiku, Hawai'i) qualified for this weekend's championship in the long jump with a 23'7-1/2" (7.20 meters) effort at Army last month.

The official field for the 2007 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship will be announced early next week following this weekend's championships and last chance meets. The national championship will be held at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark., on March 9-10.