AUSTIN, Texas (March 26, 2022) – Howard University men's and women's track & field program had several Bison selected to compete in the 94
th annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, hosted by the Longhorns, where three school records were shattered in the four-day event (March 23-26) at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
After reaching Saturday's 4x400 relay final with a qualifying time of 3:34.21, seniors
Jessika Gbai (Philadelphia),
Ameenah Saalih (Willingboro, N.J.),
Ozioma Scott (Georgetown, Guyana) and
Jessica Wright (Durham, N.C.) capped off the weekend, winning the event with a new school mark of 3:32.89. The four Bison broken their previous record set back at the 2021 NCAA East Preliminary Round (3:33.98).
Gbai and Wright also broke school records in their respective individual events.
Gbai shattered the school benchmark in the 100-meter dash preliminary round, clocking in at a qualifying time of 11.48. Ester Stroy held the record for 49 years (11.50). In the final, the Philadelphia native reset the record again with a fifth-place finish Saturday, producing an 11.25 mark.
Wright advanced to the 400-meter hurdles final after posting an automatic qualifying time of 58.22. In Friday's final, the North Carolina product broke the program record with a third-place finish (57.36), surpassing Bison great Landria Buckley (57.88).
Gbai, Saalih and freshmen
Tiffani-Rae Pittman (Bowie, Md.) and
Sherri-Anne Norton (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) took part in the 4x100 relay where they fell just short of breaking the school mark (45.29).
Individually, Pittman and Norton competed in the 100-meter dash, finishing seventh (11.72) and 24
th (11.92), respectively.
Second-year Bison
Kaya-Rae Dunbar (Burtonsville, Md.) ran in the 100-meter hurdles where she registered a 13.72 time in the prelims.
On the men's side, graduate
Dylan Beard (Severn, Md.) and seniors
Jermanie Byrd (Miami) and
Kameron Davis (Miami) competed in the 110-meter hurdles preliminary round, clocking in at 14.04, 14.09 and 14.15, respectively.
Senior
Corinthians Payne (Apopka, Fla.) earned 13
th place in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 54.16.
HU resumes the outdoor season with another pair of meets next week (March 31-April 2). One group travel to Gainesville, Fla., for the Pepsi Florida Relays, hosted by the Gators, while the other heads to Williamsburg, Va., for the Colonial Relays, hosted by William & Mary.
For more information, visit the Bison Athletics website at
www.HUBison.com.