Program Records Set At Larry Ellis Invitational

Friday, April 19

Princeton, NJ

9 AM

Army West Point

Larry Ellis Invitational

Program Records Set At Larry Ellis Invitational

April 20, 2019 | Men's Track and Field

PRINCETON, N.J. - The Army West Point men's track and field team competed at the Princeton Larry Ellis Invitational on Saturday.

The day was highlighted by several program record setting performances by the Black Knights. Kedrin Jefferson broke his own record to improve the Academy 200m mark to 21.01. Freshman Jamir Gibson smashed the school discus mark with a throw of 58.64 meters. The throw topped Travis Pendleton's 17-year record of 57.27m that stood since 2002.

Freshman Justin Young won both of his races, claiming the top spot in the 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles.

COACH'S CORNER: Head Coach Mike Smith
"The erratic weather on Friday forced us to do some shuffling of personnel and events this weekend, but our men did a good job of adapting and competing.

Kedrin Jefferson looked very good in winning the 200. He was hoping to go under 21 seconds, so I know there is a little disappointment there, but it is the fastest 200m time ever at Army and he will go much faster later in the season.

Our sprint hurdle group in general was really strong out there. We won both relays today. The 4x1 was unchallenged and it looks like they can go faster when it counts later on. Our 4x4 ran well enough to win and looked good doing it. That group may have a shot at our school record if they keep competing the way they did today.

Justin Young was also very impressive in his individual races today. Both of his hurdle wins were personal bests. He is a great competitor. His ceiling is quite a bit higher and I can see him having an impact at the NCAA meet in the near future.

I expect to have some good performances as we get closer to the championship meets, but what we saw today in the men's discus was extraordinary. Grant Alter had a great series and launched himself pretty high up the NCAA list and Jamir Gibson obliterated our school record in the discus and now has one of the best marks in the East region. That alone is impressive, but when you consider that he is a plebe, it is remarkable. There are very few men under the age of 20 in the world that can throw the discus as far as Jamir threw it today and maybe only one other U20 American that is currently at his level. I have to look at some lists to really make sense of how good he is for his age, but I am pretty sure we have one of the brightest young stars in the United States.

We will send some throwers to the Penn Relays next weekend to sharpen up before the conference meet and we will send Jeff Giannettino back home to the Drake Relays. The rest of the team will be off as we look ahead to the championship meets."

EVENT WINNERS:
Men's 100m Hurdles: Justin Young - 14.16 (Final) / 14.04 (First Round)
Men's 200m Dash: Kedrin Jefferson - 21.01 (Program Record)
Men's 400m Hurdles: Justin Young - 51.71
Men's 5000m Run: Marshall Beatty - 14:21.67
Men's 4x100m Relay: Andre Vaughn, Ben Sims, Kevin Dyer, Kedrin Jefferson - 40.48
Men's 4x400m Relay: Al-Tarik Samuel, Kevin Sembrat, Justin Young, Tyrell Maddox - 3:13.94
Men's Discus Throw: Jamir Gibson - 58.64m (Program Record)
Men's High Jump: Jeff Giannettino - 2.08

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:
Men's 100m Dash: Kedrin Jefferson - 10.62, Third
Men's 100m Dash: Andre Vaughn - 10.67, Fourth
Men's 400m Dash: Tyrell Maddox - 47.97, Second
Men's Hammer Throw: Jacob Stauffer - 59.74, Second
Men's Triple Jump: Tyrese Bender - 14.74, Second

FULL RESULTS: https://results.leonetiming.com/?mid=1643