Hosted by the North Carolina A&T Aggies, the Delaware State track & field program will head to Greensboro, N.C. for the 2017 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships. The festivities will begin Thursday (1:15 p.m.) with the women's decathlon events, while the final day of competition will conclude Saturday (9 a.m.) starting with the women's pole vault, javelin and triple jump.
A Look Back
Last season's DSU finished in a two-way tie with North Carolina Central for 10th place (22 points).
DSU's 4x400-Meter Relay squad of Faleesha Dowe, Rayanna Relerford, Vanessa Whittingham and Leandra Nyemeck tallied six points, crossing the finish line at 3-minutes-45.64 seconds to bring home the bronze medal.
Faleesha Dowe added an additional six points, when she brought home the bronze in the Heptathlon. Dowe scored a career high 4214 points. Deja Johnson finished in eighth place (3723 points). Johnson's performance scored one point for the Hornets.
Rayanna Relerford also took bronze (giving DSU six points) in the 400 Meters. Relerford finished with a recorded time of 54.57 seconds, a career best time for her. Omealla Gordon finished eighth in the same event, crossing the finish line with a time of 1:00.45. Gordon's eighth place finish added one point to the teams overall score.
Last Time Out...
The quartet of Omealla Gordon, Faleesha Dowe, Cydney Franks, and Leah White finished with a time of 3:48.96. Their time was fast enough to defeat eight other schools, including MEAC foe Savannah State (3:51.24).
What to Watch for?
Veterans Gordon, and Dowe will look to add some more medals to their trophy cases.
Gordon enters the conference championships, with the second fastest time in the MEAC. She recorded a time of 54.47 in the 400 meters three weeks ago, at the Gamecock Invitational. It will be the senior's final appearance at the MEAC Outdoor Championships.
Faleesha Dowe also projects to be at the podium again. Dowe heads to the competition with the conference's third best performance in the Heptathlon. She scored 4126 points two weeks ago, at the 2017 Morgan State Legacy Track & Field Meet.
Gordon and Dowe will team up with Cydney Franks and Leah White again for the 4 x 400 relay. The relay team only has the sixth fastest time in the MEAC so far. However, Gordon, and Dowe have medaled in the event before.
Freshman Chloe Franks and Precious Igwebuike have a chance to be on the podium, in their MEAC Outdoor Championship debuts.
Igwebuike heads to the championships with the conference's fourth best performance in the Heptathlon. She totaled 4026 points at the 2017 Morgan State Legacy Track & Field Meet. She finished in seventh place at the MEAC Indoor Championships in the Pentathlon.
Franks has the conference's third best mark in the Pole Vault, with a distance of 3.20 meters. Her highest ever mark happened in the MEAC Indoor Championships. She vaulted 3.40 meters, during her sensational silver medal performance.
