TALLAHASSEE, Fla – Senior Dennison Long (Greenbelt, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt/FIU) recorded a top career time in the 200m dash and classmate Yao Adantor (Laurel, Md./Reservoir/Morgan St./Maryland) nearly equaled his school record in the shot put as the UMBC track and field team wrapped up its opening spring weekend, Saturday at the FSU Relays at Mike Long Track.
Long placed second overall in the event, finishing with a new career-best time of 21.09, and trailing only unattached runner Javon Young (20.89). Long's time, which qualifies him for the IC4A Championships is the third-fastest in school history behind UMBC head coach David Bobb (20.63) and Aaron Johnson (21.03). Long also took second in the 100m sprint, crossing the line with a time of 10.57, just .04 behind Young (10.53), but with another IC4A time.
Junior Mercedes Jackson (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) opened her spring season by competing in the women's 100m and 200m dash events. Jackson took fourth in the 100m sprint (11.74) and 12th in the 200m (24.38), to meet the ECAC qualifying standard in both races.
Adantor, meanwhile, nearly equaled his career-best and school record mark in the shot put in the first meet of the outdoor season. The senior placed third in Tallahassee with a toss of 16.59m (54'5.25"), an IC4A-worthy distance, and just behind his top toss of 16.60m (54'5.50") which he set last year at the Morgan State Legacy Meet.
Adantor also placed 11th in the discus (35.51m; 116'6") while sophomore Vincent Rentzsch (Oranienburg, Germany/Elite Sportschule Potsdam) took seventh in the discus (40.47m; 132'9") and eighth in the shot put (13.93m; 45'8.5").
Senior Liam Stott (Carrboro, N.C./Chapel Hill) moved into a tie for eighth all-time in the Retriever record book for the pole vault on Saturday. Stott cleared 4.50m (14'9.00") to take third-place.
In the high jump, junior Alisha Beeman (Bridgeport, Conn./Bunnell/Hartford) nearly grabbed her second UMBC outdoor record in two days. Beeman, who claimed the Retriever high jump record during the indoor season (1.74m; 5'8.5"), won the event in the Sunshine State by clearing 1.68m (5'6") and moving to second in the program record book.
UMBC now returns to Baltimore to host the Big Dawg Invitational at UMBC Stadium on March 29.
