As the sun continued to beam down on the Prairie View A&M students and fans, the turnout at Blackshear’s stadium didn’t seem to decline as the 78th annual Prairie View Relays got underway last Friday.
The Prairie View A&M men’s track team, which had a series of stunning performances at the Texas Southern Relays, on March 18 and 19, picked up exactly where they left off ,showing off for the home crowd. Prairie View A&M won the men’s 4×100 meter relay with a blazing time of 39.86 seconds, with the team of Chris Taylor, Benjamin Boyd, Ethan Prince, and Jack Owens. The time of 39.86 is only 0.46 seconds off the school record of 39.40, that was run by Timothy Cherry, Larry Hamilton, Lewis Turner, and Lewis Edmonson of Prairie View A&M in the 4×100 at the NCAA Track and Field Outdoor Championships in 2001 where the Panthers finished in fourth place.
The Panthers bettered their time of 40.94 at the Texas Southern Relays in the 4×100 meter relay by a whole second running 39.86. Increasing a 4×100 meter relay time by a whole second in just one week is a major step for the Prairie View A&M men’s sprint relay. Right now they are arguably the favorites to win the relay at the SWAC Track and Field Championships.
The Panthers continued their domination of the relays by placing second in the 4×200 meter relay with a time of 1:25.48. The Panthers were edged out by Southern University with a time of 1:24.34. Prairie View A&M won the point total for the relays on the men’s side scoring 38 points.
The Panthers also placed 3rd in the 4×800 meter relay with a time of 7:54.31. Alex Sidney of Prairie View won the 400-meter dash with a time of 47.92. Sidney made a huge improvement from his 6th place finish of 49.12, at the Texas Southern Relays last week. In the 400-meter hurdles Jimmie Ware captured second place for the Panthers with a time of 54.13, followed by teammate Darian Epting who finished in 3rd place with a time of 55.15. In the 110-meter hurdles Epting completed his hurdle double by capturing 4th place with a time 14.98, followed by teammates Jason Mitchell in 5th (15.28), Connie Taylor in 7th (15.34), and Michael Ondieki in 8th (16.03). Broderick Gartica won the discus throw for the Panthers with a distance of 160-1 ¬ feet.
Also capturing first place for Prairie View A&M was Derrick Sneed who won the long jump with a distance of 21 feet 6 inches. The Panthers completed the relays by taking 2nd place in the 4×400 meter relay with a time of (3:12.23).