Jan. 19, 2009

FORTUNE TAKES 200 AT NAVY INVITATIONAL
Johnson finishes first in long jump

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Sophomore Quina Fortune (New Orleans, La.) and senior Verniece Johnson (Mineral, Va.) posted victories over the weekend as the Virginia Commonwealth University women’s track team resumed its season at the Navy Invitational.

Fortune won the 200 meters with a time of 24.92 seconds.  That puts her second on VCU’s all-time list.  She also placed second in the 60 meters at 7.79 seconds, which places her third all-time.

Johnson won the long jump at 18.01.

Because of some computer issues, some of the results and exact times and distances were not available. First-year coach Jon Riley wasn’t terribly concerned about that. His main goal was for his team to get back into the competitive swing after a holiday break.

“I was pleased with our efforts this weekend,” Riley said.  “The ladies came back after four weeks of unsupervised training during the holidays and competed well.  Now it is time to get back in the swing of things and make more progress.”

One other result Riley was sure of was an eight-place finish by freshman Heather DelaCruz   (Williamsburg, Va.) in the 3-kilometers.   She set a personal best of 10 minutes, 59 seconds to become the seventh person in VCU history to break 11 minutes at the distance indoors.

The Rams will compete again Jan. 24 at the Hampton Invitational in Hampton, Va..