Results

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - LIU Brooklyn men's track and field sprinter Brendon Rodney earned his fourth straight trip to NCAA Outdoor National Championships and broke his own school record in the 200-meter dash for the second straight day to highlight a solid showing by the Blackbirds on the final day of the NCAA East Preliminary Meet on Saturday.

LIU's 4x100-meter relay team of Rodney, senior Tyquan Dukes, junior Delano Davis and freshman Caleb Williams also earned a trip to Eugene, Ore., with their season-best time of 39.54, which was good for seventh place out of the 24 teams participating.

The day began with the 4x1 squad taking part in the third heat of the first round. The foursome closed with a time just 14 hundredths of a second off the LIU Brooklyn school record, set last year, and was good for fourth in the fastest heat of the day that included teams from LSU and Florida State.

Overall, the Blackbirds ran a faster time than teams from Auburn, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Penn State and Mississippi State, and was just one-hundredth of a second behind the Seminoles of FSU en route to the group's second straight national appearance.

Rodney ran in the first heat of the 200-meter dash quarterfinal round, and blazed the track out of lane six to a personal-best time of 19.97. The time shattered his school record of 20.24, set on Friday, and eclipsed his personal best time of 20.18 that he ran at IAAF World Championships in 2015. The time was good for second at the meet, behind LSU's Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake.

The trip to Eugene will be the fourth and final one for Rodney, who has earned a pair of Second Team All-America honors to go along with an honorable mention nod as a freshman. 

Finishing the day of competition was the 4x400-meter relay team of Rodney and seniors Tyler Cue, Mica-Jonathan Petit-Homme and Alistair McLean. The group closed with a time of 3:12.67 to finish 23rd.

Rodney, the 4x100-meter relay team and Petit-Homme (400-meter hurdles) will finish off their 2016 season on June 8-11 at NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore.