WEST CHESTER, Pa. - The Delaware State University men's and women's outdoor track and field teams opened the 2012 season with a bang, recording 14 first place finishes at the West Chester Golden Ram Collegiate Invitational.
The Hornets told home the gold in both the men's and women's 4x100 meter relay.
On the women's side, DSU recorded a score of 49.34 with seniors Tracey Fan Fan (Maplewood, N.J.) and Ayanna Kelley (Atlanta, Ga.), sophomore Vernetta Biggs (Accokeek, Md.) and senior Krystina Muhammad (Newark, Del.) to take first. The Hornets also finished fourth with a time of 53.08 with sophomore Aatiqah Ali (Philadelphia, Pa.), freshman Shalaya Sidney (Philadelphia, Pa.) and seniors Brittany Roberson (Wilmington, Del.) and Kristen Johnson (Bloomfield, N.J.).
For the men, the first place squad of junior Tyquan Brown (Neptune, N.J.), senior Tariq Devore (New York, N.Y.), junior Edward Hurley (Virginia Beach, Va.) and freshman Alpha Mansaray (Claymont, Del.) recorded a time of 42.29. The quartet of junior Darius Sivels (Milford, Del.), freshman Amir Armstrong (Sicklerville, N.J.), sophomore Eric Smith (Sicklerville, N.J.) and sophomore Jordan Wilson (Smyrna, Del.) finished fifth with a time of 45.00.
The Del State men took over in the 400m dash, taking gold, silver and bronze medals. Devore led the pack with his first place finish time of 48.51. Junior Kevaughn Laviea (Dover, Del.) placed second in 48.79 while junior Stephen Bowe was third in 49.33.
Senior Donte' Holmes (Hyattsville, Md.) ran a 4:04.27, good for first in the 1500m run.
In the field events, the Hornet men took the gold in the triple jump, discus throw and javelin throw.
Smith finished first in the triple jump with a distance of 14.10m while Armstrong was second with a 14.02m.
Junior Quintin Fortes (Reston, Va.) threw a distance of 49.14m in the discus and sophomore Marko Kano (Cottbus, Germany) threw a 54.38m in the javelin, both good for first place in their respective events.
On the women's side, Muhammad earned two more gold medals in the long jump and triple jump. In the long jump, she posted a distance of 5.52m while she recorded an 11.36m in the triple jump.
Johnson recorded a height of 1.50m in the high jump for gold medal honors.
In the shot put, sophomore Maria Gwengi finished first with a throw of 12.59m.
Fan Fan also took home two more gold medals in addition to the 4x100 relay with the 100m and 400m hurdles. The senior posted a time of 14.78 in the 100m hurdles and a time of 1:04.43 in the 400m hurdles.
Wrapping up the running events for the Hornet women was sophomore Ketsia Dornevil (Philadelphia, Pa.) who finished first in the 800m with a time of 2:26.83.
Delaware State travels to Raleigh, N.C. next weekend for the Raleigh Regionals, held on Friday and Saturday.
