LANDOVER, Md. --
Quamecha Morrison and
Jonathan Moore had company in the spotlight Friday at the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Indoor Track And Field Championships.
Morrison did her thing and repeated as high jump champion. Moore did his things and won his third 800 overall and second straight indoor title. Joining them in the winner's circle was
Akassja White with the weight throw of her career as the Lady Wildcats finished Day Two in first place.
White posted a personal record of 59 feet, 10 and a quarter inch -- over three feet better than her previous best to outdistance Florida A&M's Taylor Gorum by nearly as Bethune-Cookman concluded a splendid day.
"Huge win for Akassja," said B-CU Head Coach
Donald Cooper. "She grew up a lot today and became a true leader, showing our freshmen how it's done."
Bethune-Cookman leads the women's team standings with 64 points, with defending champion North Carolina A&T State in second with 50.5 points. Hampton (47), Florida A&M (41.5) and Norfolk State (30) round out the top five.
Morrison lived up to her standing as the MEAC's top high jumper, matching her season best of 6'3/4" to repeat as indoor champion. She also added a victory in her 60 meter preliminary.
Moena Battle (5'7 ¾") and
Jonina Brinson finished 3-4 to complement Morrison's win.
Brinson also added a fourth place finish in the pentathlon, giving her 21 points for the meet. That's better than six teams.
Other B-CU women's finishes included
Tatyana Hodnett third in the 800 with a personal record,
Tiara Williams seventh in pentathlon and the distance medley team finishing fifth. In preliminaries action,
Asia Joe posted the fastest women's 400 with her heat victory over 55.09, ahead of defending champion Tori Ray of North Carolina A&T (55.81).
Moore had to fend off Hampton's Tayvon Burris to win the 800. Moore clocked a 1:52.51 to edge Burris by four tenths of a second.
Cameron Berryhill set a PR with his fifth place finish of 1:53.80.
Other B-CU men's finishes include
Sidney Holston (59'2) and Jeremiah Peters (53'11 ¾") placing 2-4 in the weight throw;
Kelton Williams third in the high jump (6'9").
Jaquaveon Beachem,
Tyson Wright and
Brent Heholt were fourth, sixth and seventh in the heptathlon. The distance medley team was sixth.
Hampton leads men's standings with 58 points entering
Saturday's finale with Bethune-Cookman right behind at 55 points. North Carolina A&T is third with 43 points with Norfolk State (32) and Florida A&M (26) coming in at fourth and fifth, respectively.
"We were able to hold it in the middle of the road today but will take a lot more tomorrow to pull the victory, Cooper said. "Great surge by both programs."
ESPN3 will televise
Saturday's championship day events live from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. EST.
