MIRAMAR, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University men's and women's track and field teams shined in their first official outdoor competition on Tuesday afternoon in the 2017 Sharks Invitational hosted at the Ansin Sports Complex in Miramar. The Sharks broke eleven meet records and notched fourteen first-place finishes.
"The second annual Shark Invitational was fantastic," said head coach
Bryan Hagopian. "We had great performances on both sides. The women's 4x100 relay provisionally qualified for nationals and Jazmine jumped so well today increasing her provisional distance in the triple jump. On the men's side,
Eric Moate ran great for his first meet back and Wade winning the steeplechase was a great feeling for him. And to close the meet with Moate winning the Aiden A. Lewis award was the icing on the cake. I'm so proud of all my student-athletes and this is just the beginning. We have a long season to go and I can't wait to see where we stand when it comes to conference and national meets."
In the field events,
Sydney Molina started the day winning the discus throw with a toss of 36.01m.
Kamaria Johnson followed with a first-place finish in the shot put setting a meet record 12.60m. Krystine and
Stefan Matula both claimed top spots and set new meet records in the pole vault. Sora vaulted a personal best 3.25m, while Matula went 4.20m - the top vault in the Peach Belt Conference.
After the field events concluded, the Sharks honored their twelve seniors for their excellent collegiate careers at Nova Southeastern University, before going straight in to the track events.
The first event was the 4x100 meter relay. The women's team of
Sherrelle Jordan,
Nisha Bryant,
Shakira Bartley and
Julia Riedl finished first and set a new meet record and provisional qualifying time 46.69s. The men's team featuring
Rohan Mullings,
Travis Green,
Raylen Hughes and
Eric Moate also won the event setting a meet record 41.48s. The only other provisional qualifier was
Jazmine Elleston in the women's triple jump setting a new school record with a leap of 12.18m.
Christian Oppel kept the first-place finishes going with a win in the 1500m run finishing with a new meet record 4:10.85s
Julia Riedl continued her dominance in the sprints with a first-place finish in the 100m dash setting a meet record 12.42s.
Ian McQuate defended his Shark Invitational title in the 800m run breaking his meet record and personal best with a time of 1:59.90s.
Sherrelle Jordan and
Eric Moate both claimed first in the 200m dash. Jordan ran 25.88, while Moate set a new meet record running 22.00s.
Dwayne Edwards and
Raphael de Bonnieres set personal bests in 400m dash running 49.68s and 52.10s respectively.
Wade White ran away with the men's 3000m steeplechase winning the event by nearly a minute and a half. In the final event the men's and women's 4x400 meter relay teams both claimed first. The women team featuring Elleston, Jordan, Bartley and Sora set a new meet record with a time of 3:58.22.
After the conclusion of the competition the highest scorers on the men's and women's side were given the Aiden A. Lewis Award.
Eric Moate won the award on the men's side while Kala Penn from ASA Community College won the award on the women's side.
The Sharks will be back in action this weekend when they travel to the University of Miami to compete in the Miami Hurricane Invitational on Friday, Mar. 17 and Saturday, Mar. 18.
