Meet: VCU Ram Indoor Invitational
Location: Virginia Beach, Va. (Virginia Beach Sports Center)
 
The short story: The Rams kicked off their 2025 Indoor Track and Field season at their one designated home meet of the year. The men notched five separate top five performances across all events. 

SPRINTS/HURDLES:

• Christian Hallums (34.73) earned second place honors in the 300-meter race, followed by freshman Marcus Acheampong (35.16) who finished third out of 33 runners. Hallums and Acheampong both set new personal bests for the 300
• Emmanuel Oche (36.07) rounded out the Rams' performances in the 300 with a 13^th place finish
• The Black and Gold charted four top 10 performances in the 500-meter race, as Jayden Hines (1:04.84) earned the top time for the team with a third-place finish.

DISTANCE:

• The top Ram in the 1000-meter race was Cole Dawson, who clocked a 2:34.18 to finish eighth in his opening race of the 2025 indoor season, setting a personal record for the 1000 along the way
• VCU had two top 10 runners in the 3000-meter race, as Julian Lawson (8:58.43) finished seventh and Carter Smith (9:00.84) finished 10^th 

RELAYS

• VCU's best finish in the 4x4000-meter relay came from the team of Marcus Acheampong, Jayden Hines, Jaeden Cassell and Kiwan Williams earned fifth place with a finishing time of 3:20.66

JUMPS

• Nathaniel Mitchell tied for fifth place with two other jumpers after posting his best jump of 1.90m

THROWS:

• Devon Brooks was the top team performer as he earned fourth place (13.94m) out of nine competitors in the weight throw

NEXT UP
The Rams next travel to Blacksburg, Va. to compete in the Virginia Tech Invitational from Friday, Jan. 17 to Saturday, Jan. 18.