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HIGH POINT – The North Carolina A&T men’s and women’s track and field athletes started the outdoor season at High Point University’s Bill Webb Combined Events/Bob Davidson Memorial Invitational at Vert Stadium. The two-day invitational was attended by 26 colleges and universities participating in 19 track & field events.
After the rankings arrived on Saturday, the Aggies debut claimed several top-10 spots in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).
Junior Reheem Hayles garnered the only win for A&T, taking first place in the men’s 400 meters. His time of 46.89 was not only enough to put him in the top spot for the conference, but it also placed him eighth nationally. Not far behind Hayles, senior Shemar Chambers placed second in the competition at 47.05.
Chambers ranks ninth in the country and second in the CAA. Hayles and Chambers also competed in the men’s 200, where Hayles placed second and Chambers took 17th. That run put the men at No. 5 and No. 9 in the CAA.
Helping the men show dominance in the 400m, sophomore Caleb Jackson (48.70), junior Brandon Nya (50.55), and freshman Thomas Smith (52.14) used their season debuts to respectively take fifth, ninth, and tenth in the CAA rankings.
Showing up for the male field athletes, sophomores Brayden Hodgest and Carlos Alexander performed well in both the shot put and the discus elite events. Hodgest finished second in the shot put competition at 55-feet, 7-inches, and Alexander landed fifth with a throw of 53-feet, 8 1/4-inches. In the discus elite event, Hodgest placed sixth (158-feet, 11-inches), and Alexander took ninth (156-feet, 9-inches). In conference, the pair rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the shot put and No. 2 and No. 3 in the discus throw.
Alexander found another No. 3 spot in the CAA by marking 152-feet, 11-inches in the hammer throw. Taking the No. 2 spot, however, was teammate Qualiar Newton who launched a hammer throw of 162-feet, 6-inches.
On the women’s side, sophomore Pebbles Scott and junior MyKayla Perry put in overtime, racing three events on Saturday – the 400m, 200m, and 4x400 relay.
The pair found their best results in the 400m, as Pebbles crossed the finish line in 56.15 for second and Perry finished in 56.28 for third. The ladies rank 2, 3 in the conference. In the 200m event, Scott (25.07) placed fifth and Perry (25.46) placed ninth. Scott ranks 10th in the conference.
Scott and Perry teamed up with Nia Frederick and Lucheyona Weaver for the final women’s event of the day, the 4x400. Together the ladies ran a 3:54.32 to rank No. 2 on both the track and in the conference.
Another top-10 ranking was claimed for the lady Aggies in the 800m. Sophomore Ania Campbell ran 2:20.46 for fifth place at HPU, which puts her at No. 8 in the conference.
