NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Guilford College’s men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at the non-scoring Vince Brown Invitational hosted by Christopher Newport University Saturday.
Freshman Juwan Houston (Cleveland, N.C./West Rowan) provided the Quakers’ highlight of the meet when he broke the seven-year-old school record to qualify for the 60-meter hurdles finals in 8.68 seconds. He lowered his mark by three-hundredths of a second in the final, where he placed sixth in 8.65 seconds, the fourth-best time among NCAA Division III contestants. His times both surpassed the previous school standard of 9.02 seconds set by Trey Billian ’12 January 23, 2010.
Houston also had Guilford’s best finish in the 60-meter dash (7.30 seconds), where he edged teammate Tim Marshall (7.32) to placed 24th in the 62-man field. Houston’s 23.85-second time in the 200 paced seven Guilford sprinters and ranked 19th in the 78-man field.
Freshman Jeremiah Hedrick (Sedalia, N.C./Southern Guilford), a football teammate of Houston and Marshall, led the Quakers’ jumpers with a 20th-place triple jump of 11.81 meters. His long jump of 5.88 meters also placed Quakers’ leapers and ranked 29th in the 54-man field.
On the women’s side, senior Becca Benfield (Burns, N.C./Lawndale) posted another one of the school’s best shot-put throws. The Quakers’ school record holder in the event had a season-best toss of 10.07 meters that placed 21st among 56 throwers.
Junior A’lexus Newkirk (McLeansville, N.C./Eastern Guilford) recorded the fourth-fastest Guilford times in school history in the 60- and 200-meter dashes. She crossed the finish in a personal best 8.80 seconds in the 60, which placed 41st in the 66-runner field. Her time of 29.92 seconds in the 200 also stands fourth at Guilford.
Coach Danny Cash’s teams compete at the Finn Pincus Invitational February 10-11 on the campus of Roanoke College.