Rams and Lady Rams on right track at Wake Forest Open

The men and women's track teams of Winston-Salem State took field to their second outdoor meet of the season March 19 and March 20 at the Wake Forest Open.  

WSSU competed against 64 other schools including Appalachian State, NC A&T, NC Central, and Howard in the two-day meet. 

Illness played a factor among many of the team's members; however, a collective effort produced some stellar individual and team results.

Sophomore Andrew Chebii, a standout also on the Rams cross-country team, established the pace for WSSU, finishing with a 1:52:75 fourth place finish in the men's 800m run in day one of the events. 

Chebii added a time of  4:00:15 in the 1500m run.   

"He's fantastic," said Halcyon Blake, fourth year head coach for both Rams track teams.  

"He has done excellent." 

"You can always count on him when you need him.  I was really proud of his performance."

Senior Paul Williams  continued the momentum set by Chebii, with a 10.72 fifth place finish in the men's 100m dash preliminaries. 

For an encore, Williams placed fifth in the 100m finals March 20, with a time of 10.62. 

He also placed 13th in the 200m dash finishing with a 21.69.  Williams assisted with the 4X400m relay team along with Chebii, junior Cornell Jones, and senior Chad Smith.

Williams, a sprinter, won the second heat of the event dashing down the stretch, assisting the Rams to a sixth place finish with a time of 3:18:03.

Senior Nate Summerville, tied for third place in the high jump event at 6'5.5" (197m). Despite such a strong finish, Summerville thinks he can do better and that the best is yet to come.

"I wasn't surprised," Summerville said.  

"I intended to do better, but I'm starting to get back into my rhythm, and this was a start.  I was kind of disappointed, but I have been working hard.  

"I'm not mad, top three is good, but I can do better."

Summerville said he plans to achieve a high jump of 6'9" or higher in the near future.

Senior Davril Massey placed 14th in the men's long jump with a distance of 6.72m and senior James Legins placed 21st with a distance of 6.39m.

In the Lady Rams opening-day performances, redshirt-freshman Stephanie Brown came just short in the preliminaries in the women's 100m hurdles with a time of 15.28.  

The difference for Brown to qualify for the finals was  00.06 seconds. 

Sophomore Denesha Jiles was also slighted in the preliminaries, coming in 19th place with a time of 12.49 in the women's 100m dash.                    

Senior Jessica Peaks left her mark at the two-day event with her second place finish in the women's high jump competition with a height of 1.72m. 

Peaks was slightly edged out by Katelyn Williams of West Virginia, with a height of 1.78m.

"At first, I wasn't happy with the results because I wanted to win," Peaks said.

"But once I saw how high I actually jumped, I was pleased.  This is my senior season and my goal is 5'11".  Overall, I thought it [Wake Forest Open] was a good meet."

Peaks also contributed to the women's 4X400m relay along with senior Sandy Harrison, sophomore Ashley Lawson, and junior Allegra Seegars.  The Lady Rams finished in 10th place with a time of 3:59:00.  

Both the Rams and the Lady Rams finished with strong performances in front of the home crowd.

"We always do well at Wake Forest," Blake said. "It has that extra home feeling to it.  

Wake Forest is our coming-out party.  I thought that some people performed at their very best, and I'm very thankful for all the support we got from the school."