Meet: Father Diamond Invitational – Fairfax, Va. (George Mason Unviersity)
Results: Click Here
The Short Story: Behind several strong performances in the indoor season opener, the VCU Men's Track and Field Team notched a fourth place finish at the Father Diamond Invitational on Saturday.
How It Happened:
- Kyle Martin had a career day to start the season placing in the top 2 in all 3 rounds of the 60 Hurdles. His final time of 8.10 seconds was good enough for second overall on the day and was a new VCU school record. Martin previously shared the record at 8.15 second.
- Andrew Hines made a case for rookie of the week winning the men's Shot Put with an IC4A qualifying mark of 52'1.75 (15.89m) on his very first throw as a collegian. He doubled back for second place in the Weight Throw with a throw of 46'9 (14.25m). Both marks placed the freshman on the VCU all time top ten.
- Joining Hines in the throws was fellow freshman Justin Howlett who took 3rd in the Shot Put with a throw of 46'7.5 (14.21m) and sophomore Ben Melton who also grabbed a bronze medal in the Weight Throw achieving a distance of 46'0.5 (14.03m).
- Following a successful cross country season, Mohamed Adam finished 11th in the one mile event, crossing the line with a time of 4:31.08.
- Matthew Earman finished in the top-10 in the 3,000m race, clocking a time of 9:14.04
- Sophomore Racheed Davis set a new indoor PR of 45'1.5 (13.75m) to take over the 10th spot all time at VCU in the event.
Quotables:
- "We returned early this week and trained very hard to get going again following the long winter break. We have set a tone for the level of effort we are going to put in this season and we have a great deal of work to do as the season progresses. We had some very bright spots today but will continue to keep working and striving for bigger and better things as a team." - Head Coach Jon Riley
- "Our assistant coaches are doing a great job. For Coach Sage to guide Kyle Martin to a school record at the first meet in their new relationship speaks highly to his abilities as a coach, and Coach Tussing may have the best group of underclassmen throwers he has ever had which is a tall order with big shoes to fill. Andrew Hines' two medal performances today were exciting. I am going to look for both Kyle and Andrew to continue progressing this season as their coaches keep telling me they are capable of much more." - Head Coach Jon Riley
Up Next: The Rams will compete at the Liberty Invite in Lynchburg next weekend (Jan. 17)
