Feb. 17, 2008

Complete Results

AMES, Iowa - Navy men's track & field runner Andrew Hanko (Fr./Montville, N.J.) placed among the top three in two events as the Midshipmen performed well to close out their indoor regular season against a 90-plus team field at the Iowa State Classic on Friday and Saturday.

In the first day of the event, Hanko teamed up with Ben Kozy (Sr./Houston, Texas), Will Ricks (Sussex, Va.) and Craig Meekins (Sr./Baldwin, N.Y.) for a first-place distance medley relay time of 9:52.73. The Midshipmen quartet finished 1.54 seconds ahead of the second-place showing from South Dakota. One day later, Hanko came back to finish third in the 3,000-meter run with a career-best 8:15.58 clocking, more than five seconds faster than the team's previous season-best time. The Navy freshman finished only 3.50 seconds off the first-place effort from Daniel Strackeljahn, who surpassed the qualifying standard for the USA Track & Field Championship in the 1,500-meter run last year.

Navy came up with five other IC4A marks on the track over the two-day event. The Midshipmen came away with two of those times in the 800-meter run, where Meekins finished 14th with a time of 1:51.87, followed by Lucas Burke's (Sr./Bakersfield, Calif.) 1:53.39 showing for 33rd place. Earlier on Saturday, Kozy ran the mile in an impressive 4:11.17 for 21st place. Ron Belany (Sr./Haiku, Hawai'i) placed 13th in the semifinals of the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.23 seconds after finishing in 8.26 seconds during the prelims on Friday.

Two of Navy's throwers also surpassed the IC4A standard this weekend for the sixth-consecutive week. Christopher Bordino (Jr./Gastonia, N.C.) landed 21st in the weight throw with a toss of 56'6-1/2" (17.23 meters) and Darryl Hunter (Sr./Des Moines, Iowa) placed 10th in the shot put with a distance of 55'9" (16.99 meters).

The Midshipmen will begin the championship portion of their indoor season this Friday through Sunday, when they travel to Lewisburg, Pa., for the Patriot League Championship.