Mids Open Season on High Note in Navy Invitational

Navy posted four IC4A-qualifying marks during its season opener

	Ron Belany won three events on Wednesday night

Dec. 5, 2007

Results

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy men's track & field team posted four IC4A qualifying marks and won 10 events to open the 2007-08 indoor season in the non-team scoring Navy Invitational on Wednesday night at Halsey Field House.

Competing against American, Catholic, Coppin State, Delaware State, Mount St. Mary's and VCU, the Midshipmen claimed first in five of the 11 track events and topped the field in five of the six field events.

Paul Harris (Sr./Fairburn, Ga.), Will Ricks (Sr./Hopewell, Va.), indoor team captain Craig Meekins (Sr./Baldwin, N.Y.) and Vince Carpentier (So./Branchburg, N.J.) teamed up for an IC4A-qualifying time of 3:17.84 in the 4x400-meter relay. Harris, Meekins, Ricks and Ben Kozy (Sr./Houston, Texas) met the IC4A standard in the distance medley relay with a 10:02.86, first-place clocking.

Ron Belany (Sr./Haiku, Hawai'i) enjoyed a successful start to his senior campaign, as he totaled three event victories on Wednesday night. He qualified for the IC4A Championship in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 7.72 seconds to win the event. Meanwhile, he also out-distanced the competition in the long jump with a distance of 22'5-3/4" (6.85 meters) and cleared 15'0" (4.57 meters) in the pole vault for his third win of the day.

Jeff Sarchione (Sr./Alliance, Ohio) paced the field in the mile run with a 4:17.98 clocking and Matthew Leyndyke (Jr./Traverse City, Mich.) won the 3,000-meter run with a 8:39.95 showing.

In the field events, Andre Barber (Sr./Carrollton, Texas) surpassed the IC4A qualifying mark in the shot put with a first-place, career-best distance of 52'11" (16.13 meters). Mark Van Orden (So./Morris Plains, N.J.) battled through the snow at Ingram Field to post a personal best in the 35-pound weight throw, a 53'4-1/4" (16.26 meters) toss for first place. Bill Stillman (So./Norfolk, Mass.) soared over the 6'6-3/4" (2.00 meters) bar in the high jump to earn first-place honors.

The Midshipmen will be off during final exams and the semester break before returning to action on Jan. 6 with a dual-meet at Princeton.