Track and Field Preps for BIG EAST Championships

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. The Seton Hall track and field team heads to the Armory in New York City to compete at the BIG EAST Indoor Championships from February 23-24. The Pirates have several athletes looking to defend individual titles and hold some of the fastest qualifying times in the conference.

Senior Greg Gomes (Somerset, N.J.) is hoping to three-peat as the indoor 500-meter champion. He will go into the meet holding the top mark in the event after a 1:01.74 performance at the Metropolitan Championships earlier this month.

Junior Rob Novak (Bordentown, N.J.) also looks to regain his 1,000-meter crown at the Championships. Novak has the eighth fastest time in the race, clocking in at 2:25.37 at the Terrier Classic.

Seton Hall also has three of the four reigning BIG EAST Champions in the women’s 4x400-meter relay returning to defend their title. Junior Alexandra McCoy (Goldsboro, N.C.), sophomore Jernail Hayes (Newark, Del.), and sophomore Toneisha Friday (Somerset, N.J.) were on last year’s squad, and senior Janeille Brathwaite (Christ Church, Barbados) is the new addition. This year’s team holds the fastest time of all conference schools with a 3:43.53.

The men’s 4x400-meter squad of Gomes, junior Jemel Williams (Bronx, N.Y.), junior Carl Smith (Camden, N.J.), and senior Sterling Shelton also hold the top time of 3:13.03 set at the Penn State Open in January.

Freshman Nick Frimpong (East Hartford, Conn.) holds a 2.13 meter mark in the high-jump to earn the top seed in that event. He also hit 15.11 meters in the triple jump, giving him the third best attempt in the BIG EAST.

Williams will also contend for the men’s 400-meter dash title after posting the third fastest time (48.16) in the BIG EAST. Williams trails Villanova’s Elvis Lewis, the No. 1 seed, by just .70 seconds.

Hayes will run in the women’s 200-meter dash with the third best time in the BIG EAST. Her time of 24.41 is just .19 seconds off the pace of Connecticut’s Trisha-Ann Hawthorne.

The Pirates also have the second and third fastest qualifying times in the 400-meter run with Brathwaite and Friday running individually in the event. Brathwaite time (55.15) trails the top time in the race by .05 seconds, while Friday is not far behind with a 55.42.

McCoy is the No. 2 seed in the women’s 500-meter dash (1:12.86), and was within .16 seconds of Georgetown’s Ashley Hubbard’s top time.

The BIG EAST Conference’s online streaming platform, BIGEAST.tv, will provide exclusive live video of all the events for subscribers who pay one low price.

For additional information, please visit BIGEAST.tv and click the “Sign Up” button under the video player.

Full coverage of the upcoming Track & Field Champ.ionships can be found on the 2008 Track & Field Championship Central page on bigeast.org. Championship central will contain live results, photo galleries, recaps and will house all video archives and more.

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