Morgan State women tenth, men fifth at MEAC Outdoors
By Keith Henry

GREENSBORO, NC- It wasn’t easy for both Morgan State teams at the MEAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships at N.C. A&T’s Irwin Belk Track. The Lady Bears struggled to a tenth place finish with 32 points while the Bears men placed fifth with 73 points.

Associate head coach Ralph Jones said of the Lady Bears performance, “The ladies had a disappointing showing this year. I believe it was our lowest finish ever, and we unfortunately had a ton of injuries this season that we couldn’t overcome. We are proud of their efforts however, because they gave us all they had but it just wasn’t enough. The MEAC is extremely competitive in the areas that are our team’s strengths, and if you are not firing on all cylinders you will be exposed. Because of this we didn’t score in areas we had in the past even though some people ran season and personal bests, it just wasn’t good enough.”

The Lady Bears who scored were unusually few. Injuries took their toll on the Lady Bears this time.
In the 400 meter dash, sophomores Avionne Sloan and Tanisha Kendrick placed fourth and fifth while junior Jamia Robinson finished eighth. Freshman Kamice Smalls placed eighth in the 400 meter hurdles. Senior Shalee Richardson placed fifth in the pole vault. Allison Randall finished second in the discus. Tia Williams placed seventh in the javelin and eighth in the shot put.

Senior Leitawsha Bronson, the defending champion in the shot put placed fifth in the event. Jones said about that, “Leitawsha is injured. We have got to find a way in the future to keep our athletes healthy at the end of the season. Ms. Brunson doesn’t really need to learn much. She just needs to get healthy, and she will be ready and able to compete at the regionals just fine.”

For the men, Jones was pleased with what happened out there saying, “The men competed extremely well. We just didn’t have enough bullets at the end of the meet to make a run at top 3. For two days we sat comfortably at #2, but not scoring any sprinters besides the 400 really made it impossible to be relevant in the meet on day 3. We did have a season best out of the guys in the 4x400 relay, a regional qualifier in Kevin Bowen in the 400 (46.32) and 200 (21.16) and three MEAC champions in Tyron Benjamin (shot) Justus David (1500,5000), and Dakari Taylor-Watson (Decathlon). We only had eight males score for us individually and we were able to finish fifth. We have got to try to qualify more people to the championships, and have more people contribute. Recruiting will be critical for the future of the program.”

Senior Tyron Benjamin won the shot put competition by edging out N.C. A&T’s Lonnie Phifer by throwing an NCAA regional mark of 17.62 meters. Benjamin was hurt and still got it done. Jones said, “Tyron was not even supposed to compete as he strained a ligament in his elbow and was told by trainers to sit out, but he wanted to help his team. He didn’t score in the disc and was upset he didn’t “do his part” as he kept saying. So he got some treatment, sucked up the pain and got the win in the shot. He tried to duplicate that success in the javelin. But after one throw, his elbow couldn’t take it. But he did all he could.”

Dakari-Taylor-Watson placed fifth in the triple jump. But he won the decathlon on a sore ankle which took some effort on his part to battle through. Jones said, “Taylor-Watson had the gutsiest performance of the weekend. He should have been out of the competition with the injury he sustained to his Achilles, but somehow mustard up the determination to not only finish, but win the event, and then come back the next day and score in another. Success is determined by how determined you are to succeed. He showed us all that with a little determination you can overcome obstacles and be successful.”

Freshman Justus David continued to step up big in winning the 1500 and the 5000 meter races. Jones said about that, “Justus really contributed big for us this weekend. As a freshman to come in mid-semester and win three conference championships and go undefeated outdoors is a huge accomplishment and very promising for the future. I was not too pleased with his 5000 because he ran down to his competition as opposed to running to his ability, and I was expecting him to shatter the record, but he still has three years, so I guess the win is what’s most important now. His 1500 was brilliant, he ran a personal best time, and I believe he wanted to atone for not running as well as he was capable the day before, but overall I was pleased with his accomplishments.”

Kevin Bowen placed second in the 400 meter dash. The 400 meter relay team placed seventh while the 1600 meter relay team finished sixth. Isaac Richardson placed seventh in the 1500 meter run. Nathan Mesta placed seventh in the 3000 meter steeplechase.

Both teams will have to learn from their experiences. Jones said, “Both teams must learn that the MEAC is no longer a dormant conference with mediocre performers. In order to be competitive we must do our due diligence and prepare on the off season, and come back focused. As a coaching staff, we must do a better job of recruiting and developing current athletes, and filling in areas of weaknesses to make our team better.”