Meet: 14th Carolina Spring Break Classic

Location: Universidad Ana G. Mendez in Gurabo, Puerto Rico

Team Scores: No team scoring

Short Story: Venique Harris' NCAA #1 performance highlights a five-win, two-meet-record outing to open the Great Danes 2019 outdoor season.

Friday

• In her first and only throw of the day, Venique Harris won the women's discus with a mark of 182-08.00
• The mark surpassed both the meet and facility records, and set a new UAlbany school record in the event, besting the previous record of 159-09.00 set in 2009 by Ritshell Verdier
• Additionally, Harris' mark qualified for both the NCAA East Preliminary Championships and the Pan American Games, and as of Friday ranks #1 in the NCAA and tied for #24 worldwide
• Harris is the third UAlbany student-athlete, and first woman, to hold an NCAA #1 ranking in the program's Division I era, following men's high jumpers Alexander Bowen (2013) and Matthew Campbell (2018)

Saturday

• Tara Belinsky won the women's shot put in 49-01.00, an outdoor personal-best and outdoor school record, surpassing the previous mark of 48-01.25 set in 2015 by Janice Johnson
• The men's 4x100m relay of Harmodio Cruz, Jan Michael Gutierrez Almedina, Sidney Gibbons, and Garfield Napier placed second in 40.98
• Asia Jinks placed second in the women's 400m hurdles in 1:02.47; UAlbany alumna Grace Claxton won the event in 59.63
• Alex Velazquez placed ninth in the men's 400m hurdles in 55.91
• Garfield Napier tied for third in the men's 100m in a wind-aided 10.52
• Sophia Myers won the women's 100m hurdles in 13.85; Jinks placed third in 14.06, Chibugo Ike placed fifth in 14.17, tying her personal-best, and Namara Carr placed sixth in 14.21, tying her personal-best
• Gibbons won the 110m hurdles in a meet record and personal-best 13.91; Walter Briggs placed third in a personal-best 14.04, and Dawshawn Williams placed eighth in a personal-best14.94
• Cruz placed second in the men's 400m in 48.77; Matthew LeLiever placed 15th in 50.60, and Napier placed 20th in 51.26
• Carr placed fifth in the women's 200m in 25.02; Myers placed 19th in 25.75, and Ike placed 34th in 26.64; Claxton won in 23.88
• Gutierrez Almedina placed third in the men's 200m in 21.38; Gibbons placed 17th in a personal-best 22.03, Williams placed 33rd in a personal-best 22.78
• The men's 4x400m relay of Cruz, LeLiever, Briggs, and Gutierrez Almedina placed first in 3:17.49

Next: The Great Danes will visit a new meet, the UCF Invitational, starting Friday, March 22.