Feb. 14, 2008

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy men's track & field team will close out its indoor regular season when it heads to the Lied Recreation Facility in Ames, Iowa, for the Iowa State Classic on Friday and Saturday. The Midshipmen, who are competing at the Iowa State Classic for the third-straight year, are among a field of more than 90 teams with several of the nation's elite performers.

Navy's last action came in a 95-86 N-Star victory over Army on Feb. 2 in Annapolis. In their final meet in Halsey Field House, the Midshipmen totaled 17 IC4A performances to win their program-record seventh-straight indoor N-Star. Next year, the Midshipmen will move into the 140,000-square foot, $45 million Wesley Brown Field House. The new home of the Navy indoor track & field team 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.

Coming into this weekend's meet, Navy has racked up 23 IC4A Championship entries among 16 different events.

Perhaps the most exciting race of the entire weekend will come in the 800-meter run, where seven of the nation's top-22 runners will be racing in the first heat on Saturday afternoon. Among that elite group of racers will be Navy's Paul Harris (Sr./Fairburn, Ga.), who owns the nation's sixth-fastest time this winter with a 1:49.29 showing on the banked track of the Ashenfelter Multi-Sport Facility at Penn State. His NCAA provisional qualifying time is 0.83-second off the nation's best time held by Iowa State's James Galvin on his home 300-meter track three weeks ago.

Two-time Patriot League Rookie of the Week Andrew Hanko (Fr./Montville, N.J.) will take to the track in the 3,000-meter run to close out Navy's weekend. In his last action against Army, he produced IC4A times in the two-longest distance events of the day. He finished the mile run with a time of 4:12.21 before coming back an hour later to race in the 3,000-meter run and record an 8:26.75 clocking.

In the field portion of the meet, each of Navy's seven entries has delivered an IC4A performance this season. Dante Marshall (Sr./Hermitage, Pa.) posted season-best marks two weeks ago in the long and triple jumps and will partake in both events this weekend. He soared 23'3-1/2" (7.10 meters) in the long jump before registering a distance of 48'2-3/4" (14.70 meters) in the triple jump.

Throwers Darryl Hunter (Sr./Des Moines, Iowa) and Christopher Bordino (Jr./Gastonia, N.C.) have been consistent performers in the shot put and weight throw, respectively. Hunter has surpassed the IC4A standard in each of his five meets, four of which he topped all competitors. Bordino has progressively improved throughout the season, as he has recorded a personal record in each of his last-three meets. Against Army, Bordino uncorked an impressive toss of 58'8" (17.88 meters) to win the weight throw.

Following their indoor regular-season finale, the Midshipmen will begin the championship portion of their indoor season on Feb. 22-24, when they head to the Patriot League Championship in Lewisburg, Pa.