WASHINGTON (January 24, 2019) – Howard University men's & women's track and field squads continue their indoor season in State College at the Penn State National Open, hosted by the Nittany Lions. The 32-team event takes place at the Multi-Sport Facility & Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track, beginning Friday (Jan. 25) at 4 p.m. and continues Saturday (Jan. 26) at 10:45 a.m.
 
Both days of competition will be streamed online via FloTrack.
 
LAST TIMEOUT
 
On Jan. 18, Howard competed in the New York City Gotham Cup where they saw several Bison hit their personal best.
 
For the women, junior runner Sydney Benson (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.) highlighted the day by becoming the 10^th Bison to qualify for the 2019 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Indoor Track & Field Championships in Landover, Md. The Michigan native took second overall in the women's 800-meter run with a season-best (2:16.26).
 
On the men's side, freshman Aariq Nixon (Baltimore) finished runner-up in the 800-meter run with a personal best (1:56.64).
 
MEET PREVIEW
 
Howard will be among 32 teams at the National Open. The following squads joining HU and Penn State are Allegheny College, Army, Ashland, Binghamton, Bucknell, Cleveland State, Coppin State, Cornell, Dickenson, Duquesne, East Carolina, Georgetown, IUP, LaSalle, Maryland, Monmouth, Norfolk State, Penn, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Rider, Saint Francis (PA), Saint Joseph's, Shippensburg, Towson, UMBC, University of Toronto, Vermont, West Virginia, and Youngstown State.
 
HU seeks to add a few more Bison for the conference championships next month.
 
Currently, Howard has 10 Bison qualified for the 2019 MEAC Track and Field Indoor Championships: Benson; seniors Kenneth Chigbue (Bowie, Md.) and Mi-ah Watkins (Bronx, N.Y.); junior Uchechi Onuoha (Yardly, Pa.); sophomores Rachel Edler (Stone Mountain, Ga.), Jessika Gbai (Philadelphia) and Destiny Stanford (Woolwhich, Township, N.J.); and freshmen Jermaine Byrd (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), Ashton Daniel (Athens, Ga.) and Jessica Wright Durham, N.C.).
 
Junior Oluchi Ike (Upper Marlboro, Md.) and sophomore Mekhi Closson (Baltimore) seeks to punch their ticket to Landover, Md. as he fell just shy of qualifying in the 400-meter dash.
 
Newcomer Melanie White (Orlando, Fla.) also looks to qualify in the women's 800-meter run.
 
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
 
Saturday (Feb. 2), Director of Track and Field David Oliver and the Bison travel to Lynchburg, Va. for the Liberty Flames Invite, hosted by Liberty. The meet starts 9 a.m.
 
For more information, visit the Bison Athletics website at www.HUBison.com.