Track sprints to second and third place at OVC championship

Eastern's track teams brought home some hardware after traveling to the OVC indoor championship meet last weekend. The women's team finished in second place, and the men's team finished in third place, giving them and Coach Rick Erdmann something to feel good about.

"I couldn't have asked for anything more; they did a really good job," Erdmann said.

The Lady Colonels won four individual races and placed in the top three at least six times.

Sophomore Diamond Benjamin was one of the standouts. Benjamin won both the 55-meter dash and the 200 meter dash, earning her the honor of being named the OVC Athlete of the Meet. She finished the 55-meter dash in 6.94 seconds and the 200-meter dash in 24.48 seconds.

Benjamin said she was thrilled with her performance, saying that it was one of her goals this year to win at this meet.

"I felt redeemed," she said. "I felt a lot of pressure going into conference, being defending champion. Not only did I feel like I was running (for myself), I was running for the team because we had a high chance of winning."

Benjamin wasn't the only standout at the meet.

Junior Kat Pagano won the 3,000-meter run and finished in second place in the 5,000-meter run. Pagano also placed sixth in the one-mile run.

Freshman DanHeisha Harding won the 55-meter hurdlers dash with the time of 7.89 seconds.

Picoty Leitich, reigning co-female freshman of the year, finished in third place in the 800-meter run and third in the one-mile run. Leitich finished the 800 meters in two minutes and 18 seconds, and she finished the mile in five minutes and 10 seconds. Freshman Jazzmin Jeter finished in third place in the long jump with the jump of 18 feet nine inches. Morgan Thacker, a sophomore, placed fourth in the triple jump with the jump of 37 feet.

Some other Colonels also defended their titles from a year ago.

Soufiane Bouchikhi, reigning co-male freshman of the year, won the 3,000-meter run and the one-mile run. Bouchikhi ran the 3,000 meters in eight minutes and 31 seconds. He finished the mile in four minutes and 13 seconds.

Chris Rengifo, a senior, finished in second place in the one-mile run, with the time of four minutes and 13.72 seconds. Rengifo, was part of the second place distance medley team. Soufiane, and juniors Kristopher Hawkins and David Wills were the other members on the team.

Junior Chris Rice finished in second place in the 5,000-meter run with the time of 15 minutes and 17 seconds. Rice placed fourth in the 3,000-meter run with a time of eight minutes and 44 seconds.

Shannon Davis, a junior sprinter, twice came up just short of winning the 55-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. Davis' time in the 55 meters was 6.41 seconds, which was three-tenths of a second behind the first place time of 6.38 seconds. His time in the 200-meter dash was 21.88 seconds.

Erdmann said some runners will participate in the University of Notre Dame Last Chance Meet on March 3 and 4. Some runners will try to qualify for the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships on March 11, 12, and 13. The rest of the Colonels will train for North Carolina State University Raleigh Relays on March 26 and 27.