Final Results
EUGENE, Ore. - A pair of LIU Brooklyn men's track & field stars rounded out their tremendous collegiate careers at NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Friday. Graduate student Brendon Rodney earned bronze in the 200-meter dash final, while senior Mica-Jonathan Petit-Homme finished in seventh place in the finals of the 400-meter hurdles. Both individuals earn First Team All-America honors for the first time in their outdoor careers, with Rodney picking up his second First Team honor this season after his fourth-place finish in the 200-meter dash during the indoor campaign.
As a team, the Blackbirds compiled 8.0 points to finish tied for 29th nationally with the University of Georgia, and ahead of teams from N.C. State, Clemson, Arizona State, North Carolina, Texas and Rutgers amongst others. The finish was the best in LIU Brooklyn history, surpassing its 30th-place showing in 2006.
Petit-Homme ran the final out of lane six and got off to a good start, but hit a slight bump in the road as he clipped the second hurdle and dropped back even with Texas A&M's Robert Grant in lane five. The senior from Port-Au-Prince, Haiti fought valiantly to recover and remained even with Grant for the next 100 meters. Down the stretch, Petit-Homme closed strong and concluded his final race as a Blackbird in a time of 50.71, nearly two seconds ahead of Jussi Kanervo from South Carolina.
In the next race of the meet, Rodney recovered from a bit of a slow start out of the blocks to pull even with Tennessee's Christian Coleman for the lead in the 200-meter dash with just 50 meters remaining. Rodney and Coleman were neck and neck before Arkansas senior Jarrion Lawson pulled ahead over the final 30 meters to take the race in 20.19. Rodney's time of 20.39 was just 13 hundredths behind Coleman, who closed in second place.
Petit-Homme and Rodney are the third and fourth athletes from LIU Brooklyn to earn First Team All-America status, joining Richard James (2003) and Bryan Steele (2005, 2006). James finished eighth in his 400-meter dash race, while Steele closed in sixth in the 400-meter hurdles in 2005 and was the national runner-up in the event the following year.