HAWKS FALL SHORT AT MEAC CHAMPIONSHIPS; FINISH SECOND AND FIFTH MAGGIE HAYON 05/08/10 Men's 4x100 relay breaks school record again GREENSBORO, N.C. - The University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's outdoor track and field team fell just 38.5 points shy of knocking off Norfolk State University at the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Championships today as they secured second place at Irwin Belk Track on the campus of North Carolina A&T State University. The NSU Spartans won their fifth straight MEAC Outdoor Championship with 150.50 points while UMES came in second with 112. On the women's side, the Lady Hawks finished in fifth place with 61 points while the Hampton University Lady Pirates also captured their fifth straight MEAC Outdoor Championship. UMES brings home gold medals in the men's 400-meter dash, men's 3000-meter steeplechase, women's 1500-meter run and women's 3000-meter run. Senior Allodin Fothergill (New Hempstead, N.Y.) finished first in the 400m with a time of 46.00 while junior Thomas Keane-Dawes (Camden, N.C.) was third with a time of 46.79. The Hawks were able to grab 14 points in the men's 3000-meter steeplechase and were led by sophomore Basil Melek's (Grand Prairie, Texas) first place finish of 9:26.82. Senior Peter Sang (Kapsabet, Kenya) was sixth in 10:08.53 while junior Amon Kiprotich (Kapsabet, Kenya) was eighth in a time of 10:14.59. Sophomore Eunice Jones (Lanham, Md.) led UMES to victory in the women's 800m and the 1500m. She finished first in the 800m with a time of 2:19.52 and in the 1500m with a time of 4:37.37. Sophomore Cynthia Anais (Paris, France) was right behind Jones in the 1500m and finished second with a time of 4:37.83. The men's 4x100 meter relay team also continues their success as they broke their own school record for the third time this season with a second place finish time of 40.01. The previous record of 40.19 was set at the Penn Relays on April 23. Members of the squad are Keane-Dawes, Fothergill and sophomores Damian Miles (Teaneck, N.J.) and Akheem Gauntlett (Roselle, N.J.). Fothergill registered another eight points for the Hawks with his 200-meter dash time of 21.23, which was good for second place. Gauntlett followed in sixth place with a time of 22.32. UMES secured another six points from freshman Jonathan Bridle (Baltimore, Md.) with his third place finish in the men's javelin. His furthest throw went a distance of 46.56 meters. Sophomore Johan Welter (Paris, France) ran a 52.59 in the men's 400-meter hurdles, which was good for fourth place. The men's 4x400 relay team also placed in fourth with a time of 3:15.57. Members of this squad include Keane-Dawes, Miles, junior Paul Jones-Burden (Rahway, N.J.) and Welter. The Hawks received fifth place finishes from both freshman Marcus Brown (Gaithersburg, Md.) and senior Tamica Thomas (St. Catherine, Jamaica). Brown finished the men's shot put with a distance of 14.29 meters while Thomas completed the women's 3000-meter steeplechase in a time of 12:05.00. UMES travels next weekend to Princeton, N.J. for the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America and Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships on May 14-16.