Jan. 31, 2008

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy men's track & field team will host its final indoor home meet of the year this Saturday when Army comes down to Annapolis for the annual Star Meet. The meet gets underway at 11 a.m. with the weight throw at Ingram Field, with the action in Halsey Field House starting with the pole vault and long jump at 11:30 a.m.

Saturday's Star Meet represents the final men's competition in Halsey Field House, which has served as the home of the Navy indoor track & field program since 1957. Next year, the Midshipmen will move into the 140,000-square-foot, $45 million Wesley Brown Field House. The new home to the Navy indoor track & field program will feature a 200-meter hydraulic banked track, 60-meter straightaway, dual pole vault/jumping runways, dual throwing areas and a scenic view of the Severn River.

Navy has won each of the last-six indoor Star Meets against Army, the longest streak in program history, and nine of the last-ten indoor meetings. Last year, the Midshipmen won every running event between the 500-meter and 3,000-meter distances to claim a 95-86 victory over the Black Knights in West Point. With the help of their current winning streak, the Mids own a 24-22-2 all-time advantage over their service academy rival.

Coming into the indoor slate, Navy and Army were picked to finish tied for first in this year's Patriot League Championship. The two teams combined to receive all of the league's 16 first-place votes in the preseason poll.

Navy enters the weekend with a 6-1 record in scored meets, while Army will be competing in a dual-scored meet for the first time this season.

Last weekend, the Midshipmen produced several stellar performances at the highly contested Penn State National Open. Navy won three events (distance medley relay, 800-meter run and mile run) and totaled nine IC4A-qualifying performances over the two-day competition. For the year, Navy has racked up 17 IC4A Championship entries among 12 different events.

Paul Harris (Sr./Fairburn, Ga.) became the first runner in Patriot League indoor history to claim the league's track athlete-of-the-week award in three-straight weeks on Tuesday. Last weekend, Harris produced the nation's second-fastest time in the 800-meter run with a NCAA Championship provisional qualifying mark of 1:49.29. The effort was just 0.01-second shy of matching Alex McClary's national best time of 1:49.28 with Arkansas. Harris also served on the first-place distance medley relay team that delivered a time of 9:52.52 and the second-place 4x400-meter relay that finished in 3:15.27, both IC4A qualifying times.

Andrew Hanko (Fr./Montville, N.J.) qualified for the IC4A Championship in a second event this season last Saturday when he won the mile run with an impressive time of 4:09.99. He finished 3.68 seconds ahead of second-place runner Stephen Kraus's time from Army. For his efforts, Hanko was recognized as the Patriot League Rookie of the Week.

Throwers Darryl Hunter (Sr./Des Moines, Iowa) and Christopher Bordino (Jr./Gastonia, N.C.) both have regularly surpassed the IC4A standard this winter. Hunter has come away victorious three times in the shot put and passed the IC4A distance in all four of meets during his senior campaign. Two weeks ago in Annapolis, Hunter uncorked an indoor career-best toss of 55'11" (17.04 meters). Bordino has improved on his previous week's effort in the weight throw in back-to-back weeks, setting a new personal record. Last weekend, he recorded an impressive distance of 57'6-1/4" (17.53 meters).

The Midshipmen will close out their indoor regular season on Feb. 15-16, when they head to Ames, Iowa, to compete in the Iowa State Classic.