RAMS POST NINE WINS AT VCU INVITATIONAL

RICHMOND, Va. – The coaching staff of the Virginia Commonwealth University men's track & field team has been talking about having a business-like mentality and using the meets leading up to Colonial Athletic Association Championships as preparation.

To do that and get nine individual titles? They'll take that too.

In their first home meet in two years, the Rams had nine winners with junior Brian Wallace (Portsmouth, Va.) leading the way with victories in the long and triple jumps.

Wallace leaped 46' 4 ¾" to grab the triple jump championship, before narrowly beating out classmate Antonio Norvell (Portsmouth, Va.) by just over an inch with a leap of 23' ¾" in the long jump.  

Norvell would get his individual win by edging out senior DeAngelo Wilson (Richmond, Va.) in the 200-meter with a time of 21.64, just .01 seconds ahead of Wilson.

Don't worry though, Wilson would also get a win for himself in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.68, good for IC4A-qualifying. Right behind him was junior Kyle Jones (Richmond, Va.) with a personal best and IC4A-qualifying time of 10.85.

Wilson, Norvell and Jones would team with junior Donnie Seward (Richmond, Va.) to grab a title in the 4x100 meter relay with a time of 41.36.

In just his first meet with the Black & Gold, senior Kirill Pishchalnikov (Maykop, Russia) earned a first-place finish in the shot put with a heave of 43' 1 ¾".

Other wins on the day included Seward in the 400-meter, junior Walid Berkhedle (Toronto, Ontario) in the 1500-meter and senior Kevin Brinkley (Richmond, Va.) in the pole vault. It is Brinkley's third win of the spring season.

The Rams have one more meet before the CAA Championships as they travel to the prestigious Penn Relays next week.