VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Coppin State's
Jeff Hammond won the long jump at the opening day of the MEAC Indoor Track & Field Championships on Monday afternoon at the Virginia Beach Sports Complex.
A sophomore from Kumasi, Ghana, Hammond entered the conference championship ranked as the league's top jumper and did not disappoint as his leap of 24' 11" on his third attempt was enough to take the gold. Hammond opened the day with a mark of 7.42m (24' 4.25") which put him in first. He upped his mark to 7.51m (24' 7.75") on his second jump before his winning attempt.
Hammond is the first Coppin field athlete to win an event at a MEAC Championship since
Steven Thomas won the hammer throw at the 2017 MEAC Outdoor Championships. He's the first Eagles jumper to win a conference title since
Shane Green took the triple jump at the 2014 Indoor Championship.
The Eagles also had athletes competing in the preliminary rounds of the men's and women's 200m dash, as well as the women's long jump.
Latifa Ali blew out her heat in 24.12 to advance to Wednesday's final and will enter as the third seed following the prelims.
Cathryn Lane and
Shenelle Tomlinson just missed qualifying for the final, finishing in times of 25.05 and 25.08 to take 10
th and 11
th, respectively.
On the men's side,
Joseph Manu won his heat in 21.59 to automatically qualify for the final while teammate
Mauriel Carty also advanced with a time of 21.98.
In the women's long jump,
Kaelyn Woodrum finished 13
th in 5.12m (16' 9.75").
