April 29, 2007
PHILADELPHIA - Navy men's track & field juniors John Olsen (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Darryl Hunter (Des Moines, Iowa) each posted a NCAA regional-qualifying mark to highlight the team's performance at the 113th-annual Penn Relays at Franklin Field in Philadelphia on Thursday through Saturday.
Olsen opened Navy's action at the Penn Relays on Thursday night in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, where he crossed the finish line in 9:05.75 for second place. The showing was the team's fastest mark this season and bested his previous career-best effort by more than 13 seconds.
On Friday afternoon in the shot put, Hunter surpassed the 56'-mark for the first time in his career, placing second with a distance of 56'1" (17.09 meters). It marked the second time he has registered a NCAA regional-qualifying mark in the shot put this spring.
Later in the day on Friday, Navy's 4x400-meter relay team of junior William Ricks (Sussex, Va.), senior Cameron Lindsay (Kernersville, N.C.), junior Craig Meekins (Baldwin, N.Y.) and junior Paul Harris (Woodbury, Minn.) combined for a ninth-place finish with a 3:10.60 showing, the eighth-fastest time in school history.
Junior thrower Andre Barber (Carrollton, Texas) and junior jumper Ron Belany (Haiku, Hawai'i) both produced a tenth-place mark on Friday afternoon. Barber uncorked a career-best, IC4A-qualifying toss of 155' (47.25 meters) in the discus, while Belany soared 22'9-3/4" (6.95 meters) in the long jump.
The Midshipmen will return to action next weekend when they travel to Bethlehem, Pa., for the 2007 Patriot League Outdoor Track & Field Championship. Navy was picked to finish second in this year's preseason poll, voted on by the league's coaches and sports information contacts.
