• Sport Home
• |
• Roster
• |
• Schedule
• |
• Stats 
• |
• Archives

May 1, 2008

Patriot League Championship Page

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy men's track & field team, picked to win the league championship in the preseason, will look to claim its first Patriot League outdoor title this Friday and Saturday, when it hosts the 2008 Patriot League Championship at Ingram Field. The action will begin with the hammer throw at 10 a.m. at Hospital Point on Friday, followed by a 9 a.m. start with the decathlon on Saturday.

There will be no admission charge for the Patriot League Championship, however, fans are encouraged to park at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium for $5 and take the free shuttle to Ingram Field. Fans without a Department of Defense decal or a temporary vehicle pass from the Pass & ID office will not be allowed to drive onto the United States Naval Academy.

Navy joined the Patriot League on a full-time basis in 2004 and have finished among the top-three teams in each of the last-four league titles. This weekend represents the first Patriot League Outdoor Championship held at Navy's Ingram Field.

Army has won each of the last-16 Patriot League outdoor titles and was picked to finish second in the league's preseason poll. Three weeks ago, Navy went up to West Point and defeated Army in convincing fashion, 118-85, to capture the N-Star.

On the year, Navy has accumulated nine NCAA East Region Championship qualifying marks in seven different events. The Midshipmen own 24 IC4A Championship qualifying entries over 16 different events.

The Midshipmen, who won their third indoor title within five years this winter, will rely upon their throwing corps to capture the league's outdoor crown for the first time in program history. In the discus throw, Navy owns the three-best performers this year. Andre Barber (Sr./Carrollton, Texas) produced a throw of 171'2" (52.19 meters) in the Star Meet at Army, while Darryl Hunter (Sr./Des Moines, Iowa) uncorked a toss of 170'2" (51.88 meters) on the same day. Both distances are NCAA regional-qualifying marks. Tyrell Arment (So./Wamblee, S.D.) ranks third on the team and among the league in the event, by virtue of his 160'9" (49.01 meters) performance on March 22.

Navy owns the Patriot League's top-two throwers in both the hammer and the javelin. Mark Van Orden (So./Morris Plains, N.J.), the reigning Patriot League Field Athlete of the Week, paces the league in the hammer throw with a toss of 195'1" (59.47 meters) at the Penn Relays, preceded by a 178'11" (54.54 meters) distance at the Star Meet by Christopher Bordino (Jr./Gastonia, N.C.). In the javelin throw during Navy's last home meet on March 29, Bo Lawson (Sr./Newton, N.J.) released a toss of 207'6" (63.26 meters), while Devan Clark (Fr./Lorton, Va.) produced a mark of 205'4" (62.60 meters). Van Orden, Lawson and Clark's performances all surpassed the NCAA regional qualifying standard.

In the fourth and final throwing event, the shot put, Navy owns two of the top-four efforts of the year. Hunter's 57'3-3/4" (17.47 meters) NCAA regional-qualifying performance in the season-opening Point Loma Invitational ranks first in the league, while Barber's distance of 51'11-1/4" (15.83 meters) at Army places him fourth.

Another potential strong area for the Midshipmen could come in the middle distance and distance events on the track. Navy runners John Kress (Sr./Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Bill Prom (Jr./New Berlin, Wis.) own the two-fastest 10,000-meter times in the Patriot League with clockings of 30:36.66 and 30:52.15, respectively.

In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Navy holds the first-, second- and fourth-fastest times in the league. John Olsen (Sr./Staten Island, N.Y.), the Patriot League Track Athlete of the Week, delivered a career-best, NCAA regional-qualifying time of 8:58.31 at the Penn Relays last Thursday. Gavin MacGarva (Jr./Bellevue, Wash.) finished in 9:20.58 at the Penn Invitational for the league's second-best mark, while Robert Alvarado (Fr./San Francisco, Calif.) ranks fourth with his 9:28.17 showing at the Star Meet.

Middle distance runner Paul Harris (Sr./Fairburn, Ga.) owns the Patriot League's top times in the 400-meter dash and 800-meter run, as well as serving on the league's fastest 4x800-meter relay. Harris completed the 400-meter dash in 47.30 seconds at Army and finished in 1:51.31 during Navy's last home meet on March 29. Running the fourth and final leg of the 4x800-meter relay at the Texas Relays, Harris helped break the school record with a 7:27.59 showing.

Multi-event athlete Ron Belany (Sr./Haiku, Hawai'i), the 2008 Patriot League Indoor Field Athlete of the Meet, carries the team's best efforts in four events coming into the weekend. Belany's distance of 24'2-1/4" (7.37 meters) in the long jump qualified him for the NCAA regional championship, while his time of 14.52 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles at the Point Loma Invitational also ranks second in the league. In that meet, he also finished the 100-meter dash in 11.05 seconds and completed the 200-meter dash in 22.14 seconds two weeks later in Annapolis.

Following this weekend's conference championship, the Midshipmen will head to Princeton, N.J., for the IC4A Championship on May 9-11.