Feb. 3, 2007

Results

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Navy's 4x400-meter relay team won the penultimate event of the meet to clinch its sixth-consecutive N-Star victory over Army with a 95-86 win on Saturday afternoon in Gillis Field House at West Point.

With the women's track & field team's 107-73 win earlier in the day, Navy's track & field squads recorded their second indoor N-Star sweep at West Point. The men's and women's teams also registered a sweep of the Black Knights during the 1999 season.

Navy's six-straight N-Star victories marks the longest winning streak in program history and has won nine of the last-10 meetings. With Saturday's win, the Midshipmen own a 24-22-2 advantage in the all-time series with the Black Knights.

"We really demonstrated some great team effort today," stated Navy head coach Stephen Cooksey. "We had to move some guys around, even some at the last minute, but they really gave us a big plus. Everybody stepped up when we needed them to this afternoon."

The difference on Saturday afternoon came in the track events, as Navy outscored Army, 62-53. The Midshipmen won every track event between the 500-meter run and 3,000-meter run, with a pair of first- and second-place performances. The Mids and Black Knights each won three field events, tying with 33 points in those six events. Last season, Army held a 37-29 scoring advantage in the field events.

Holding 87-78 lead going into the relay events, the Midshipmen only needed to complete the two relays to ensure victory. Freshman Vince Carpentier (Branchburg, N.J.), junior Craig Meekins (Baldwin, N.Y.), junior William Ricks (Sussex, Va.) and junior Paul Harris (Woodbury, Minn.) combined for a time of 3:20.54 to win the 4x400-meter relay and clinch a Navy win. With Army leading going into the final leg, Harris overcame the deficit to cross the finish line first by 0.19-second.

Setting up the scenario for the final-two events was Navy's first- and second-place times in the 3,000-meter run. Junior John Olsen (Staten Island, N.Y.) won the event with a career-best, IC4A-qualifying time of 8:25.61, followed by junior John Kress' (Colorado Springs, Colo.) second-place clocking of 8:28.16, also a career-best and IC4A-qualifying showing.

Navy's other 1-2 sweep on the track came in the 800-meter run. Meekins won the race with a time of 1:54.36, followed by junior Lucas Burke's (Bakersfield, Calif.) time of 1:55.30 to finish second and edge Army's Matt Tower by 0.41-second.

Junior Jeff Sarchione (Alliance, Ohio) and sophomore Andrew Grant (Athens, Ga.) each recorded a career-best and IC4A-qualifying time in the mile run. Sarchione finished with a 4:10.49 showing to win the event by 0.13-second and Grant placed third with a clocking of 4:11.69.

Harris won the 500-meter run by more than two seconds with a 1:02.93 showing, marking the second time he has finished under 1:03.00 in the event this season. Junior Ben Kozy (Houston, Texas) ran a tough race with Army's Chris Haag in the 1,000-meter run, just edging the Black Knights senior by 0.07-second with a time of 2:31.12.

The Midshipmen also benefited by a first- and second-place showing in the high jump to highlight their afternoon in the field events. Senior Cole Herron (Sanger, Calif.) cleared 6'8" (2.03 meters) to win the event for the first time this season. Senior Stephen White (Marietta, Ga.) and Army's Reagan Rafferty each passed over the 6'7" (2.01 meters) bar, but White required fewer jumps to win the tiebreak and finish second.

For the fourth time this season, junior Darryl Hunter (Des Moines, Iowa) won the shot put with an IC4A-qualifying mark. Hunter uncorked a throw of 53'8-1/2" (16.37 meters) to win the event on Saturday. Classmate Dante Marshall (Hermitage, Pa.) recorded an IC4A mark in the triple jump in capturing first with a distance of 47'10-1/2" (14.59 meters).

Junior Ron Belany (Haiku, Hawai'i) placed second in the long jump with a career-best, IC4A-qualifying mark of 23'7-1/2" (7.20 meters). The effort was less than six inches off the 10th-best distance in school history.

The Midshipmen (6-1) will conclude their indoor regular season when they travel to Ames, Iowa, for the Iowa State Classic next Friday and Saturday.