Fayetteville State and Virginia State claim 2023 CIAA Outdoor Track Championship Titles
Courtesy CIAA / May 12, 2023
Claflin’s Zoe Adams (bib #45) held off a strong 400m field enroute to a gold medal with a time of 54.74 seconds. Photo by Joe Daniels/Carolina Peacemaker.
DURHAM – The Fayetteville State women and the Virginia State men both repeated as conference champions at the 2023 CIAA Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Durham County Stadium on Saturday, May 6.
Fayetteville State dominated from start to finish in the two-day event. Last year, the Broncos were co-champions along with Winston-Salem State, but left no doubt who the best team was this year. Led by Jessica McQueen and M’Smrya Seward, Fayetteville State amassed 171.13 points to beat Virginia State (89) and Saint Augustine’s (77.13).
The men’s division was closer but Virginia State scored 140 points to pull away from Saint Augustine’s (111) and Claflin (107.5). A 1-2-3 discus sweep led by Atrell Williams helped boost the Trojans to a runaway win.
Williams and Glenn Butler of Lincoln (Pa.) were CIAA Men’s Field Co-MVPs and Tyler Wagner of Livingstone was CIAA Men’s Track MVP. McQueen and Seward were CIAA Women’s Track and Field MVPs, respectively. Inez Turner of Fayetteville State was named CIAA Women’s Coach of the Year and Frank Hyland of Virginia State was CIAA Men’s Coach of the Year.
Both McQueen and Seward sparked a deep Broncos squad that set the tone on Friday and continued their brilliant performance on Saturday. Seward won the triple jump to go along with her long jump title on Friday as Fayetteville State swept the event. Tracy Idugboe was second and Domanique Knowles was third.
The Broncos won five events, including a sweep in the 4×100 and 4×400 relays, but McQueen reflected the team’s depth. She placed second in the 200 and 400 dashes and was part of both winning relay teams. The 4×100 relay team consisted of Tramoni Myles, Queen Burnett, McQueen and Teanna Bell. The 4×400 relay team included Bell, McQueen, Sierrah Matthews and Burnett.
The Trojans also displayed depth to claim the men’s title. The trio of Williams, Isaiah Ramadane and Mark Banberger were first, second and third, respectively, to give Virginia State a sizeable lead. Devonte Moore placed fifth in the discus as four Trojans finished among the top five spots.
Williams’ discus victory along with his shot put win on Friday earned him Co-Field MVP honors with Butler. Jalen Brownlee sparked the Trojans by finishing second in the 5000 run and seventh in the 800 run to go with Friday’s win in the 1500 run.
Butler earned Men’s Co-Field MVP with wins in the high jump and long jump. Wagner won the 200 dash, finished second in the 100 dash and ran on the second-place 4×100 team and fourth-place 4×400 relay team to take home Men’s Track MVP.
Saturday’s women’s winners were Seward of Fayetteville State (triple jump), Kennedy Alexander of Winston-Salem State (high jump), Aisha Carrington of Lincoln (Pa.) (100 hurdles), Zoe Adams of Claflin (400 dash), Ronee Tudor of Winston-Salem State (100 dash), Miracle Price of Virginia State (800 run), Symone Wright of Shaw (400 hurdles), Malaysia Johnson of Saint Augustine’s (200 dash), Yassine Kamara of Bowie State (discus) and Abijah Jepkemboi of Saint Augustine’s (3000 run) in addition to the Fayetteville State 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams.
Saturday’s men’s winners were Kadain Roper of Saint Augustine’s (javelin), Ja’Qun Wilkins of Johnson C. Smith (triple jump), Jayden Rodriguez of Lincoln (Pa.) (110 hurdles), Kymali Hay of Johnson C. Smith (400 dash), Zephaniah Cox Jr. of Johnson C. Smith (100 dash), Zion Murry of Claflin (800 run), Sean Kalawan of Saint Augustine’s (400 hurdles), Wagner of Livingstone (200 dash), Micah Kipruto of Virginia Union (5000 run), Williams of Virginia State (discus), the Johnson C. Smith 4×100 relay team and the Claflin 4×400 relay team.
