BROOKLYN, N.Y. - The LIU Brooklyn men's and women's track and field teams head to Landover, Md. this weekend for the Northeast Conference Indoor Championships from Feb. 8-9 at the Prince George Sports & Learning Complex.
The Blackbirds are coming off a sucessful outing at the Metropolitan Championships last Friday. Junior Brendon Rodney was named the NEC Athlete of the Week for the third consecutive time after winning the 60-meter dash and anchoring the winning 4x400 meter relay.
Rodney holds the conference's top time in the 60-meter dash (6.87) and 200-meter dash (20.87). His 200-meter time also ranks third in the nation, and fifth in the world.
LIU Brooklyn boasts a number of athletes who could be strong contenders in the sprint events at the NEC Indoor Championships. Dannish Walker-Khan is second behind Rodney in the 60 (6.90) and 200 (21.74). In addition. Tyquan Dukes and Eric Williams are ranked sixth and eighth in the 60-meter dash, respectively, while in the 200, Darius Neely sits fourth and Mikhail Williamson is seventh.
in the 400 and 500-meter dash, the Blackbirds have four athletes in the current NEC top-10. Alistair McLean leads the pack in third in the 400 with his time of 48.84, set at the Metropolitan Championships, while Rodney is sixth, Mica-Jonathan Petit-Homme is seventh, and Andi Augustin is 10th. In the 500, McLean is second (1:04.68), while Petit-Homme is right behind in third at 1:04.73. Augustin is fifth and Kervin Morgan ranks seventh.
The Blackbirds are also ranked first in the 4x400 meter-relay, and are nearly six seconds ahead of the Mount St. Mary's squad, who are second.
The Blackbirds have also been sucessful in jumps this season. Freshman Adam Walker-Khan was named the NEC Rookie of the Week twice, and leads the conference in both the long jump at 7.18m and the triple jump at 14.84m. Amir Armstrong ranks second in the league in the triple jump with his leap of 14.76m, while Vinh Le is sixth at 14.00m.
The LIU Brooklyn women's track team is also stacked in the sprint events. In the 60-meter dash, five Blackbirds sit in the top-10. A mere .02 seconds seperates fourth from seventh, all positions held by LIU. Anise Cuffee and Ja'Mesha Richard are both tied for fourth at 7.73, while Bryanna Williams is sixth (7.74) and Josephine Watson is seventh (7.75). Shanice Grant is ninth with a time of 7.80.
Watson, Cuffee and Richard are also fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively in the conference standings in the 200-meter dash, while Bryanna Williams is eight. In the 400-meter, Shakia Williams ranks second at 58.02, while Watson, Cuffee and Alea Stevens are again fourth, fifth and sixth.
Katrina Anderson, who earlier broke the LIU Brooklyn record in the 800-meter run, holds the top spot in the conference currently with her time of 2:09.96, a full second faster than runner in the second spot. Anderson is also ninth in the 400 and seventh in the 500.
Joining Anderson in the top-10 in the 500 meter dash is Stevens, who is fifth with a time of 1:17.57, Marielena Rivera in ninth, and Shakia Williams 10th.
The Blackbird women also are the top contenders in the 4x400-meter relay, sitting in first with a time of 3:.49.97.
LIU Brooklyn could also gain valuable points in the jumps, with a strong contigent in the high jump, long jump and triple jump. Kyaira Wright-Harmon is currently second on NEC performance lists in the high jump at 1.70m, while freshman Maria Luzon is seventh.
In the long jump, four LIU Brooklyn athletes could make an impact, with Bryanna Williams currently third in the league, Wright-Harmon in fourth, Richard in sixth and Luzon in ninth. Finally, in triple jump, Richard ranks sixth on the list at 10.97m, while Bryanna Williams eighth and Wright-Harmon is 10th.
At last year's NEC Indoor Championships, both the men and women placed second, while the men earned seven championship titles, and the women won three. The Blackbirds also placed 10 on All-Northeast Conference teams while the women had nine.
After the conference championships, the Blackbirds finish out the indoor season with three meets. They first compete at the Mason Last Chance Meet on March 2, followed by the ECAC/IC4A Championships from March 7-9, and finally look to send athletes to the NCAA Championships from March14-15 in Albuquerque, N.M.