UMO men, women revise programs' indoor track record books

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on January 27, 2014 1:48 PM

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CHAPEL HILL -- Dylan Lafond posted an NCAA II provisional qualifying time and won the men's 3,000 meters as the University of Mount Olive opened its 2014 indoor track and field season at the Tar Heel Open on Saturday.

Aki Kitagawa placed first, Austin Steagall took second and Pol Domenech-Ferrer finished third in the mile run. The trio bested the field that included three runners from the University of North Carolina and two from Duke.

Kitagawa posted a time of 4 minutes, 21.6 seconds and beat his previous best by five seconds for the second-fastest time in school history. Steagall finished just two-tenths of a second behind Kitagawa and now owns the Trojans' third-fastest time.

Lafond, who competed in the mile run at the 2013 NCAA Division II men's indoor championships, shaved 16 seconds off of his own school record in the 3,000 meters. Lafond posted a time of 8:20.60 to finish first out of 23 runners, including eight Division I opponents, five from Duke.

Teammates Eugenio Gil finished 10th and Fred Lang placed 12th.

Jacob Urys became the first Trojan runner to break two minutes in the 800-meter dash. Urys recorded a time of 1:58.57 and ended up 11th out of 39 runners. Karl Goodman finished eighth out of 28 runners in the 400 meter dash and set a school record with a time of 51.70 seconds.

Goodman and Urys joined Cedric Thomas and Joaquim Cotano in setting a Trojan record with a time of 3:31.45 in the 1,600-meter relay.

Anthony Edwards finished fourth out of 23 competitors in the long jump, while Marc Ferguson placed eighth out of 31 throwers in the shot put. Ferguson's throw of 12.32 meters is the third-longest distance in school history.

Aerostata Brown broke her own school record, posted an NCAA Division II provisional distance and finished first in the triple jump during the women's portion of the meet.

Brown posted a distance of 11.63 meters, beating her previous best by 0.33 meters. Brown finished first out of 11 competitors. She also competed in the long jump and was the Trojans' best finisher in the 60 meter dash.

UMO placed sixth out of 17 teams in 1,600-meter relay. Alexis McNeil, Wislande Maxy, Brionna Simmons and Chelsea van Dijk posted a time of 4:08.44 as the Trojans beat out six Division I teams. In addition to her performance in the relay, van Dijk set a school record with a time of 59.33 seconds in the 400 meters.

Kanesha Jones finished seventh and Tunisia Prince finished ninth out of 17 competitors in the long jump. Char'de Washington placed 10th out of 22 throwers in the weight throw and 14th out of 32 throwers in the shot put.

Mount Olive returns to action next Saturday in the Hilton Garden Invitational, which is hosted by Winston-Salem State University.