FINNEY’S BIG DAY HIGHLIGHTS RAMS SHOWING AT MASON INVITATIONAL

FAIRFAX, Va. – Parties usually include cake, ice cream and some balloons.

Sophomore Jazlynn Finney (Virginia Beach, Va.) decided she didn't need all that and chose Saturday's Mason Spring Invitational as the setting for her breakout party.

Finney had a busy day, highlighted by a personal best of 19' 4 ¾" in the long jump which gave her the top mark in the event. The second-year star followed that up with a third-place showing in the 200-meter dash with a personal best of 25.26.

"Jazlynn had a really great day for us with a couple good jumps and a really technical sound run in the 200 meter," Head Coach Jon Riley said. "She is putting herself in position to score some quality points for us at the conference meet in a couple weeks. I'm really proud of her, she works extremely hard at practice and it's beginning to pay off."

Finney wasn't done as she was a part of the 4x100 relay team that broke a school record and won the event with a time of 45.93. Joining her was senior Whitney Key (Goochland, Va.), junior Quina Fortune (New Orleans, La.) and freshman Dionna Hayes (Bowie, Md.).

Hayes, Finney and Key then teamed with sophomore Nicole Walters (Orange, Va.) in the 4x400 meter relay for a third-place showing and a time of 3:57.12.

Sophomore Julia Anyaugo (Washington, D.C.) added to the record-breaking with a toss of 136' 9" in the discus. It marks the second straight week that the Rams have broken the discus toss with freshman Jessica Williams (Virginia Beach, Va.) breaking the old record last week.

The hurdle crew of senior Sernarra Archie (Winston-Salem, N.C.) and sophomore Theresa Trader (Purcellville, Va.) had outstanding performances, showing huge progress. Archie posted a personal best of 14.35 in the prelims, while Trader clocked in at 14.60 in the finals.

Along with freshman Chaneka Perry (Newport News, Va.), the Rams took third, fourth and fifth in the 100-meter hurdles.

The Black & Gold will host its only home meet of the year next week with Longwood and Richmond coming to VCU's SportsBackers Stadium for the 2010 VCU Invitational on Saturday, April 17th.