Lexington, VA - The Southern Virginia University men's and women's track and field teams remained close to home for their second stint of competition this season at the VMI Invitational. The competition took place over two days and featured several Division l and Division ll programs, providing the Knights with a healthy dose of top-notch competition.
Day One
While most events took place on Saturday, the Knights' athletes delivered plenty of fireworks on the first day of competition. Reigning USA South Rookie Field Athlete of the Week, Surraiya Mahmud, delivered another solid performance in the women's pole vault. She came within one vault of tying her school record mark set last week but still managed to claim a top-five finish.
Onto the track, Folole Torres followed her impressive performance last weekend with a magical couple of hours. In the first round of the 60m hurdles, she broke her own school record, only to obliterate that record by over two-tenths of a second in the semifinal, finishing with a time of 9.44. Just ninety minutes later, she toed the line again for the 300 meters and delivered another clinic on the track. Her time of 44.04 seconds eclipsed her own school record again, making that three school records in under two hours for the senior from Hawaii.
In the men's 300 meters, Jakaidyn Ross and Ezekiel Newman accomplished a rare feat together. With a time of 37.94, Ross set a new school record in his collegiate debut. However, moments after in a separate heat, Newman eclipsed that mark by finishing with a time of 37.01. With record-breaking performances in two consecutive heats, the tone was set for another exciting day of events on day two.
Day Two
The field events took center stage again on the second day, led by a first-place finish on the men's side. Despite earning USA South freshman of the week honors, Alex Silvester wasn't content with his second-place finish a week ago as he clinched his first collegiate win in the pole vault. He cleared a height of 4.36 meters (14' 3.5") and was followed by Cliff Bastow, who clinched a fifth-place finish with a vault of 3.76 meters (12' 4").
Ezekiel Newman followed up his school record performance in the 300 meters yesterday with an excellent mark of 12.68 meters (41' 7.25") in the triple jump, leaving him third in the program's all-time list. Back to the track, Bayleigh Redd made her season debut in the mile and nearly snagged a victory in her heat. Her time of 5:25.21 puts her toward the top of the leaderboard in the conference.
The men's 4x400 meter relay wrapped up the weekend for the Knights on a high note. The quartet of Ezekiel Newman, Isaac Armstrong, Jakaidyn Ross, and Ryan Pascual obtained a top-ten finish at the meet with their time of 3:30.28, which is the fourth fastest time in program history.
The team will visit VMI again next weekend to compete in the VMI Winter Relays. Events will take place on Friday and Saturday, and a meet schedule can be found on knightathletics.com.
Men's Top Ten Finishers - VMI Invitational
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Alex Silvester 1st Place Pole Vault 4.36 meters / 14' 3.5"
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Cliff Bastow 5th Place Pole Vault 3.76 meters / 12' 4"
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4x400m relay 10th Place (Newman, Armstrong, Ross, Pascual) 3:30.28
Men's Indoor Top Ten Program Marks
Women's Top Ten Finishers - VMI Invitational
Women's Indoor Top Ten Program Marks
