Men’s Track Travels to Navy

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point men's track and field team hits the road for its annual indoor Star Meet with service academy rival Navy on Saturday, Feb. 6, from Wesley A. Brown Field House.

"It's always a big week and a fun week going into the Navy meet," said Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mike Smith. "It brings a lot of energy to practice with the anticipation, and I think, as an athlete and a coach, that's what you want. You want to have a rivalry and a competition that matters, and this dual matters in a way that no other competition between two schools does."

The Black Knights are looking to capture their first indoor star since a 96-85 home victory in 2011. Domonick Sylve set the meet record that year in the 60-meter hurdles at 7.87.

Army's 2015-16 roster is highlighted by a pair of underclassmen that are chasing down program records. Sophomore Lee Bares, who recently set a new personal-best at the Penn State National Invitational at 5.22 meters, continues to creep closer to Army's pole vault record. The Lakeville, Minn., native started the season second on the all-time list at 5.10 meters, and has his sights set on the 5.24 meter record set by Darrin Hinman on 1997.

"It's obvious when you look at the Patriot League lists and our headlines that Lee has been getting better with each passing week," added Smith. "He's just improving significantly and is now within two centimeters of our school record. I haven't seen the increments for the meet so I don't know what bar we'll go through, but it would be nice if he got some attempts at the record. Navy has some good vaulters too, so it will be a good competition."

In addition to Bares, Ben Sims has impressed both on the oval and in the jumps. At his most recent competition, Sims ran the second-fastest 60-meter dash time in Army history at 6.79, .02 seconds behind teammate Jose Santana's record of 6.77 set at the 2014 Patriot League Championships. The freshman from Sierra Vista, Ariz., also holds the team record in the triple jump at 13.78 meters.

Both Sims and Bares earned recognition from the Patriot League and the ECAC. Sims was named the Rookie of the Week by both organizations in the first week of December when he ran the fourth-best time in program history in the 60-meter dash at 6.89 in his collegiate debut. Bares earned Patriot League Track Athlete of the Week and ECAC Athlete of the Week honors after he vaulted 5.15 meters en route to a first-place finish at the Penn State Relays in the first week of 2016.

The men's meet will start at 11 a.m.

For up-to-date information on Army men's track and field visit GoArmyWestPoint.com and follow @ArmyWP_TrackXC on Twitter.

Men’s Track Travels to Navy

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Players Mentioned

Lee Bares

Jose Santana

Ben Sims

Army West Point Athletics