Feb. 11, 2007

AMES, Iowa - The Navy men's track and field team left its mark at the ISU Classic over the weekend where the Mids turned in a pair of NCAA provisional qualifying times, including a program-best 800-meter run by junior Paul Harris (Woodbury, Minn.) in 1:48.46. Harris also teamed up with Ben Kozy (Houston, Texas), William Ricks (Sussex, Va.) and Jeff Sarchione (Alliance, Ohio) to record a second-place finish in the distance medley relay and provisionally qualify for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship.

Harris paced the field of more than 90 athletes in the 800-meter run, finishing the event in 1:48.46. Not only is it the fastest 800 meters in school history, Harris is the first Navy athlete to finish the run in under 1:50.00. He now owns the top-three 800-meter marks in the Navy record book, as he bettered his previous record of 1:50.71 set at the Dec. 1, 2006, Navy Invitational.

Harris opened the weekend on a high note when he, Kozy, Ricks and Sarchione ran a blistering 9:41.71 in the distance medley relay to place second behind Northern Iowa's 9:40.28. In additional to provisionally qualifying for the NCAA meet, the time goes down in the Navy record book as the third fastest. It's the fastest mark by the Mids since Aaron Lanzel, Eric Porter, Douglas Kay and Erik Schmidt set the record in March of 2002.

As if two NCAA provisional qualifying marks was not enough for Harris, he also was a member of the 4x400-meter relay team that ran the fastest time in program history. Alongside Harris, Ricks, Craig Meekins (Baldwin, N.Y.) and Cameron Lindsay (Kernersville, N.C.) turned in an eighth-place finish with a 3:12.07. It broke the Naval Academy record of 3.13.4 set on Dec. 15, 1979, by Mark Banks, James Sheairs, Patrick Bailey and Jeff Colvin.

Just a week after jumping a career-best 6'8" in the high jump, senior Cole Herron (Sanger, Calif.) placed sixth at the ISU Classic where he bettered last week's mark with a jump of 6'9-3/4".

Placing eighth in the triple jump was junior Dante Marshall (Hermitage, Pa.), who turned in a career-best jump of 14.92 meters (48'11-1/2"). His previous best mark of 14.78 was set two weeks ago at the Penn State National Open.

Both Sarchione and Kozy finished among the top 10 in the mile run, as both turned in personal-best times. Sarchione placed eighth with a 4:08.21, shaving two seconds off last week's meet-winning time of 4:10.49 against Army. Meanwhile, Kozy took off nine seconds from his previous best (4:18.3) and finished the ISU Classic ninth in a time of 4:09.15.

Lindsay, a senior, broke the 50-second barrier in the 400-meter dash for the first time in his career, as he finished 62nd with a 49.17. Ricks also turned in a career best, finishing the race in 63rd with a 49.18.

Junior Lucas Burke (Bakersfield, Calif.) placed 30th in the 800-meter run with a personal-best 1:53.29. Last week he finished in second place at the Army-Navy meet with what was then his best mark of 1:55.30.

Second-year distance runner Andrew Grant (Athens, Ga.) finished his 3000-meter race in 20th, while taking nearly eight seconds off his previously fastest race. Grant finished the ISU Classic in 8:23.32, erasing his previous-best time of 8:31.08 set in a quad meet against American, Penn and Virginia Commonwealth in mid-January.

The Midshipmen will be back in action next weekend when they travel to West Point, N.Y. to compete in the Patriot League Championship Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Last season the Mids came up just short of claiming the team championship, as Navy finished second among the eight-team conference meet.

Iowa State Classic • Feb. 8-10, 2007 • Ames, IowaEvent                   Athlete               Mark/Time    PlaceLong Jump               Ron Belany                 6.93    18Triple Jump             Dante Marshall            14.92     8High Jump               Cole Herron     2.08m (6'9-3/4")    6                        Stephen White      1.98 m (6'6")  T16Distance Medley Relay   Ben Kozy, William Ricks, Paul Harris, Jeff Sarchione                                                   9.41*    25000-meter run          John Kress             14:39.63     760-meter hurdles        Ron Belany (prelims)       8.46    36Mile Run                Jeff Sarchione          4:08.21     8                        Ben Kozy                4:09.15     9400-meter dash          Cameron Lindsay           49.17    62                        William Ricks             49.18    63800-meter run           Paul Harris             1:48.46*^   1                        Craig Meekins           1:51.48    16                        Lucas Burke             1:53.29    303000-meter run          Andrew Grant            8:23.32    20                        John Olsen              8:31.58    344x400-meter relay       William Ricks, Craig Meekins, Cameron Lindsay, Paul Harris                                                3:12.07^    8

* - NCAA Provisional Time
^ - School Record