Men's NEC Championship Headquarters | Women's NEC Championship Headquarters
 
BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The LIU Brooklyn track and field teams are making their way to New Britain, Connecticut this weekend for the 2016 Northeast Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The conference meet will be hosted by Central Connecticut on Saturday, May 7 and Sunday, May 8.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend at Penn Relays, Kyaira Wright-Harmon took home gold in the women's high jump with her season best mark of 1.75m. The 4x400m relay team of Elizabeth Adesanya, Cemorne Baugh, Stephanie Aidoo and Cassandra Jones took bronze, clocking 3:40.96. The men's 4x100m relay team of Tyler Cue, Brendon Rodney, Delano Davis and Caleb Williams took silver on Saturday with a time of 40.24. Clocking 1:23.00 in the men's 4x200m relay, Cue, Rodney, Karl Cajuste, and Davis placed third in the final heat.
 
At the Lion's Invitational, Cayla Coleman had a silver finish in the women's 400m dash, crossing the line at 57.71. Christina Abiola finished in sixth with her 12.51m attempt in the women's shot put. She then went on to take fifth in the discus with a mark of 41.94m. On the men's side, Clinton Belle placed ninth in the javelin throw with his final mark of 42.72m.
 
ROAD TO THE CHAMPIONSHIPS
The men's track team currently holds eight of the top ten times in the NEC this year in the 100m dash. Rodney leads the Blackbird-heavy leaderboard following his 10.34 finish at the Georgia Tech Invitational. After their sprints in the 100m dash at the Florida Relays, Davis holds the second best time in the event at 10.49 and Tyquan Dukes sits in third with his 10.52 performance. Rodney, Davis and Dukes also hold the top three spots in the 200m dash, with Rodney recording the best time this season at the Georgia Tech Invite of 20.63. Davis is in second at 21.41 and Dukes has the third best time in the NEC of 21.63.
 
In the 400m dash, Rodney tops the leaderboard once again with his 45.96 performance at the Florida Relays. Freshman Roderick Moodie currently holds the third best time in the men's 110m hurdles, while Mica-Jonathan Petit-Homme posted the best 400m hurdles time of 50.55. Alistair McLean also sits high on the 400m hurdles leaderboard in fourth going into championship competition. Adam Walker-Khan has the top mark in the NEC in the triple jump of 14.97m and the third best long jump mark of 7.06m.
 
The men lead the conference in both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays as the weekend approaches. In the 4x100m relay, the team crossed the line in 40.24 at the Georgia Tech Invite and sit atop the NEC leaderboard in the 4x400m relay by more than seven seconds following the team's 3:08.13 time at the Raleigh Relays.
 
On the women's side, Anise Cuffee posted the second best time in the league this season in the 100m dash of 12.12 at the Raleigh Relays. The women hold six of the top ten best times in the 200m dash, with Cassandra Jones at the top after her 24.52 sprint at Coastal Carolina. Stephanie Aidoo boasts the third best time of 24.67 and Satima Chambers sits in fourth, less than half of a second behind Aidoo.
 
Jones, Baugh and Aidoo dominate the 400m dash leaderboard going into championship weekend. Jones is once again in first with a time of 54.61, while Baugh clocked the second best time of 55.35 and Aidoo the third fastest sprint in the event at 55.75. Gabriella Ade-Onojobi and Shantae McDonald hold the first and second fastest times in the NEC in the women's 100m hurdles of 14.00 and 14.09, respectively. Alea Stevens, with her 1:01.34 performance in the 400m hurdles at the Georgia Tech Invitational, holds the best time in the event. Wright-Harmon posted the top mark in the conference after her win in the long jump at Penn Relays. The women also lead the conference in the 4x100m and 4x400m relays with times of 46.39 and 3:40.90.
 
SILVER SEASONS
Despite a strong push near the end of the meet, Central Connecticut was able to win its second straight outdoor title in 2015 with 170.5 points. The men's team came in second scoring 161. The Blackbirds took the top-two spots in the 100m results. Brendon Rodney broke his own conference record by .01 seconds with a time of 10.28, while Tyquan Dukes was second in 10.59. Rodney set his second record of the weekend in his signature event, the 200m dash.  He broke his own mark of 20.41 set in 2014 with a time of 20.32 to stand atop the podium once again.
 
Adam Walker-Khan placed first in two field events, including the triple jump, to add to the team's score. Alistair McLean won the 400m dash, and was second in the 400m hurdles, while Mica-Jonathan Petit-Homme won the title in 52.85 to add 10 points to LIU's team total. The men took the titles in the 4x100m and 4x400m relays by nearly two seconds in each event.
 
The women also earned silver at the outdoor championships, winning eight events over the course of the two day meet. The Blackbirds made a strong surge on the second day to climb the ladder up to the second spot, scoring 140 points total, but Sacred Heart would claim the team win with 195.5 points. Wright-Harmon won three of the field events for the women, breaking her own conference record in the high jump after clearing 1.78m. Gabriella Ade-Onojobi took second in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.61.
 
The Blackbirds scored 21 points in the 400m dash, with Cemorne Baugh winning the title in 55.1. Elizabeth Adesanya and Alea Stevens came in fourth and fifth, respectively. Baugh also went on to win the crown in the 200m dash and was part of the 4x400m relay team that won gold, alongside Stevens and Adesanya. The women were also able to take first in the 4x100m relay by more than one second to add 10 points to the team's total.