NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. – At the conclusion of day one on the New Balance Invitational, the MSU track and field teams boost 13 Top 10 finishes.
"This was a good start for day one," MSU coach Steve Dudley said. "We have an even bigger day ahead of us tomorrow and we need to be at our best. I feel this meet already has us improving as a team and hopefully tomorrow we will be successful."
Making his 2015 indoor season debut, junior Brandon McBride ran the nation’s leading time in the collegiate 500-meter run with a time of 1:01.40. Teammates Scottie Hearn placed third in the event with a time of 1:02.49, while Dustin James II (1:04.19) finished tenth. Shayla Luckett (1:12.32) finished third in the women’s 500-meter run, while teammate Ocian Archer (1:14.46) placed eighth.
Sophomore Rhianwedd Price ran a personal-best of 2:24.65 in 1000-meter run to finish second. Also in the 1000-meter run, Damian Roszko (2:28.00) finished tenth, while teammate Steve Shoto (2:30.24) placed 25th.
In the 60-meter hurdles, Ste’yce McNeil finished first in the prelims and semi-finals to advance to the finals on Saturday. She ran atime of 8.39 in the prelims and 8.33 in the semi-finals. On the men’s side, Jovan Davis placed 10th in the semi-finals with a time of 7.96 after running a time of 8.01 in the prelims.
Distance runner Andrew Monaghan finished second in the3000-meter run with a time of 8:26.59.
After qualifying for the 60-meter dash semi-finals, Rodrigo Rocha finished 11th recording a personal-best of 6.87. Juston Waters (7.03) finished 26th and Zachary Taylor (7.07) finished 44th. On the women’s side, Euricka Hardy finished 29th with a time of 7.73.
To conclude the running events for day one, the women’s distance medley relay, comprised of Emma Neigel, Kimari Martin, Marta Frietas and Cornelia Griesche, placed seventh with a time of 11:42.28.
In the long jump, senior Erica Bougard placed first with a leap of 21-00. Finishing immediately behind Bougard in second place was senior Rochelle Farquharson with a leap of 19-11 and freshman Tiffany Flynn had a leap of 19-07 to finish in eighth. With a leap of 22-09.75, Willie Reed placed 21st on the men’s side.
Both track and field teams will resume action tomorrowmorning. Starting day two will be Ebony Brinker and Flynn with the triple jump at 9:15 a.m.
