2011 CIAA Outdoor Women's Champions, first in JCSU school history
Results
Ettrick, VA – The Johnson C. Smith University women's track and field team catapulted into the history books by winning the 2011 CIAA Outdoor Championship with a 153 team points on Saturday afternoon inside Rogers Stadium on the campus of Virginia State. Capping off the team title, senior
Shermaine Williams claimed Championship MVP honors with 30 individual points.
The final scores are as follows: JCSU – 153, Winston-Salem State – 129, St. Augustine's – 105.50, Virginia State – 103.50, Bowie State – 81, Virginia Union – 20, Lincoln (PA) – 10, Shaw – 9, Livingstone – 9, and St. Paul's – 2.
The women's team jumped out the gate with 24 points in the 100m dash alone. Freshman
Danielle Williams (12.02), senior
Shermaine Williams (12.17), and junior
Monique Kelly (12.23) finished the race in first, second, and third respectively to add to the team total.
Shermaine Williams and Kelly returned for the finals of the 200m to claim second and sixth place.
Williams had a time of 24.60 and Kelly timed in at 25.07. Freshman
Naffene Briscoe (St. Catherine, Jamaica) tied with Kelly Shaw of St. Augustine's for third in the 200m (24.93). The Lady Golden Bulls produced 16.5 team points in this event. Briscoe crossed fourth in the 400m in a time of 55.60 and junior
Sasha-Gay Cunningham (Clarendon, Jamaica) took seventh (58.44).
J.C. Smith dominated the 100m hurdles showcasing the top four finishers in the event. S. Williams broke the tape for first (13.42), followed by senior
Lakaevia Tyler (Miami, FL) 13.72, junior
Rosemarie Carty (St. Andrew, Jamaica) 14.01, and D. Williams in fourth (14.07). This event added 29 additional points to the JCSU total.
Cunningham placed second behind April London of St. Augustine's in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:03.25. Teammates Briscoe (1:03.54) and Carty (1:05.81) were third and fifth, respectively in the event. Multiple competitors in each event with top finishes continued to compound team points for Johnson C. Smith. JCSU earned 18 points in the 400m hurdles.
The 4x100m relay team picked up 10 points by winning the race in a time of 45.61. In the 4x400m relay, JCSU took fourth (3:50.90) for five additional points.
Sophomore
Xahnn-Georgia Reid (Clarendon, Jamaica) leaped 1.59m for fifth in the high jump. Reid returned for third in the long jump with a final measure of 5.54m. Teammate
Danielle Williams won the event with a jump of 5.69m. Reid completed her field duties in the triple jump claiming fourth (11.29m) and earning 14.5 points individually.
Junior
Marcia Higgins (Brown Mills, NJ) and sophomore
Antoinette Taylor (Oakland, CA) were fifth and eighth respectively in the shot put. Higgins had a toss of 11.84m, while Taylor's throw traveled 10.49m. Higgins had an impressive performance in the discus to take third (36.89m) for six team points.
“I'm very proud of this team and what they have accomplished with their efforts today,” said head coach
Lennox Graham. “Our program has made great strides and we continue to try and improve each season with every meet. This championship is the result of preparation, dedication, and hard work by our student-athletes and the coaching staff.”
JCSU also won the highest grade point average award with a team GPA of 3.30.
Johnson C. Smith set their gears in motion to execute in Philadelphia, PA for the annual Penn Relays on April 28-30 hosted by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field.
