May 10, 2009

TRIO OF RAMS SHINE AT UNC ELITE INVITATIONAL
Full Results

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The best athletes in the world usually step their game up when they are among the company of fellow elite athletes.

A trio of athletes from the Virginia Commonwealth University women’s track & field team did just that this weekend when seniors Verniece Johnson (Mineral, Va.) and Natalie Duncan (Alexandria, Va.) joined sophomore Quina Fortune (New Orleans, La.) with top-five showings on the weekend.

“I am very pleased with the weekend we were able to put together against athletes from power conferences like the ACC and SEC,” Head Coach Jon Riley said. “Our seniors continued to add to their great seasons and Quina is coming into her own at the right time.”  

For the third time in the past month a school record was taken down when Fortune blistered the track for a time of 24.00. It was good for a fourth-place showing in the event and bested the old school record of 24.16, set by Shaunette Davey in 2003.

The mark is also just .04 seconds off of the NCAA East Regionals qualifying mark of 23.96.

“Quina has been working hard all year for us,” Riley said. “She set a school record running into a negative wind, which isn’t easy to do. We would have liked for her to qualify this weekend, but this meet was an aide to set her up to run even faster next week. She is coming into her own at the right time of year.”

Johnson captured her fourth long jump title of the spring with a leap of 20’ 2 ½”, just an inch shy of the school record she set three weeks ago at the CAA Championship.

“Verniece had another good day for us,” Riley said. “I wasn’t too concerned about where she placed at this meet, but how well we executed her landing. It’s a part of her jump we are trying to improve and have three weeks to try and get it right. I believe she is set up to put it all together and pop a big jump at [NCAA East] Regionals.”

For the second time in three weeks, Duncan set a new school record in the shot put. Her toss of 45’ 7 ¾” bested her old mark by over seven inches. She placed third in the event. She also grabbed a top-10 finish in the discus on the weekend.