Watch Flotrack's Coverage of Holston's 400m win
Watch Flotrack's Coverage of NSU's 4x400m win
Watch Flotrack's Coverage of Kimutai's 3,000m win
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Norfolk State men's track team punctuated one of its best indoor weekend showings in some time - perhaps the best in its Division I history - with a trio of victories Saturday at the Penn State National Invitational.
The Spartan men posted national top-15 marks in three events over the weekend. First-year sophomore James Taylor got things started Friday night by clocking a PR of 6.66 seconds in the 60 meters. He finished second behind Hampton's Reggie Dixon, whose 6.58 is the second-best time in the nation so far this year. Taylor, who was running the 60 for just the third time in college, is 10th in the nation with his 6.66.
Junior Sean Holston kept things going by topping a strong field to win the invitational section of the 400 meters on Saturday. His season-best time of 46.87 seconds is tied for eighth in the country, and is a second and a half faster than the previous top time in the conference.
Holston and Taylor also formed half of NSU's victorious 4x400 meter relay team. The quartet, which also includes Keith Nkrumah and Kenneth Smith, clocked a time of 3:10.37, which is tied for the 14th-best time in the country.
Also earning a gold medal on Saturday was junior Philemon Kimutai in the 3,000 meters. He posted a time of 8:28.28, roughly a half-second behind the school-record time that teammate Josef Tessema recorded earlier this season. Kimutai, Tessema, Smith and Vincent Brown also placed eighth in a competitive distance medley, running their top time of the season (10:02.52).
Tessema was not done, as he clocked a school record in the mile for the second straight year in this event. He was 12th in the invitational section after finishing in 4:12.75.
In field events, both Rashad Cannon and Darris Shelton registered seasonal-best distances in the long jump. Cannon tied his PR set while he was at Purdue, placing second with a best effort of 24 feet, 9.75 inches. Shelton was right behind in third place with a college-best 24-9.25. Both are among the top 25 performances in the nation this season.
Click here for complete results from Penn State. Click here for partial squad results from CNU.
The Spartans are off next week before returning to action on Feb. 12 at Christopher Newport.
