PUEBLO, Colo. – Powered by its sprinters and hurdlers, Saint Augustine’s University completed its season as the best men’s track & field team in Division II leading an HBCU contingent that produced 14 outdoor national champions.

The Falcons scored 99 points on the final day to run away with the men’s team crown at the 2013 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships held at the Neta and Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl on the campus of Colorado State University at Pueblo on Saturday, May 25.

St. Aug has won 33 men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor titles combined and 11 men’s outdoor titles under legendary head coach George Williams.

The Falcons scored a total of 105 points which is the third-most points by a winning men’s team since 2007. Ashland was second with 57 points and Adams State was third with 44 points.

The outdoor title comes on the heels of the indoor crown won by the Falcons in March 2013. It is the first time a team has swept both championships since 2005. The last time the Falcons were indoor and outdoor champions was 2001.

"The kids did a good job," Williams said. "They started the indoor season with a vision. They worked hard. I am proud of them."

Among the women, Academy of Art University was this year's champion with 60 points.  Johnson C. Smith placed second with 54 points. Lincoln (Mo.) and Grand Valley State tied for third with 51 points.

Ten of the 14 national titles won by HBCUs came from CIAA schools.  St. Aug won five titles. Johnson C. Smith took home four and Livingstone had one, thanks to Quanera Hayes who upset defending champion Kayon Robinson (Adams State) to win the women's 400m dash.  Stillman's Jeffrey Henderson won the men's long jump and 100m dash. Sabiel Anderson of Lincoln (Mo) was also a double winner breaking the tape first in the 110m hurdles and 400m hurdles.

St. Aug's men won four events and scored significant points in several others to easily win the team title. The Falcon men were team winners in the 4x100m relay and the 4x400m relay.  Dane Hyatt won the 400m dash and Jermaine Jones took first place in the 200m dash. On the women’s side, the Lady Falcons claimed the 4x400m relay.

"This is a typical St. Aug group," Williams said. "We excelled in sprints, hurdles, relays and jumps."

The men’s 4x100m relay team set the tone with a sizzling performance in its event. The foursome of Ramaan Ansley, Taffawee Johnson, Burkheart Ellis, Jr. and Jones ran 38.91 seconds to break the Division II national record which they set two days ago in preliminaries. On Thursday, the Falcons ran 39.01 in the preliminaries to break the previous mark held by Abilene Christian for 29 years. Abilene Christian ran 39.20 in 1984.

The Falcons are the first Division II team in history to run the 4x100m relay under 39 seconds. It is the seventh fastest time in the United States in 2013. In this year's finals, Grand Canyon was second in 39.58 and Lincoln (Mo.) was third in 39.95.

St. Aug began the final day with six points as a result of Eddie Shelton's third place finish in the high jump on Friday.

Despite the thrilling 4x100m win and a fifth-place finish by Ty’reak Murray in the men’s 110m hurdles, the Falcons didn’t take the lead until the 400m dash when St. Aug took four of the top six spots with Hyatt leading the way. Hyatt won in 45.41 while Ellis, Jr. was third, James Quarles was fifth and defending champion Josh Edmonds was sixth.  The Falcons scored 23 points in the 400m to move into first place with a 44-30 lead over Adams State.

SAU widened its lead in the 100m dash won by Stillman's Henderson. Johnson was second and Jones was third while Daniel Jameison was eighth. The Falcons scored 15 more points in the event for a 58-34 lead over Grand Canyon.

The Falcons never looked back from that point. Marcelis Lynch finished sixth in the 800m  and Elhadji Mbow was second in the 400m hurdles. DeJon Wilkinson was fourth in the triple jump.

The Falcons sealed the title in the 200m dash. Jones was first with a time of 20.57 and teammates Johnson and Edmonds were third and fourth, respectively. Stillman's Henderson completed an HBCU 1-2-3-4 sweep in the event, finishing second.

The St. Aug 4x400m squad of Edmonds, Quarles, Ellis, Jr. and Hyatt capped the meet by winning the last event in 3:04.89.

Among the women, the SAU quartet of Kelly Shaw, Cherrisse Lynch, Jaivairia Bacote crossed the finish line first in the 4x400m in 3:35.89.

JCSU women's scoring came mostly from the efforts of Danielle Williams and Samantha Elliott.  Williams claimed the unofficial title of "Fastest Woman in Division II" by winning both the 100m and 200m dash.  She finished 2nd in the 100m hurdles and joined Elliott, Naffene Briscoe and Trudy-Ann Richards to win the 4X100m relay.  Elliott won the 400m hurdles and finished 3rd in the 100m hurdles to add more points to the JCSU total.

Livingstone's Hayes ran a season's best 51.54 to win the women's 400m dash.  The 2013 CIAA champion's performance ranked as the fifth fastest all-time in Division II. 

2013 HBCU Division II Outdoor Track All-Americans
Men's Long Jump Jeffrey Henderson - Stillman * Women's Long Jump Baeisha Johnson - Paine Euphemia Edem - Stillman Nickeisha Beaumont - Lincoln (Mo.) Men's High Jump Eddie Shelton - St. Augustine's Women's Triple Jump Euphemia Edem - Stillman Sheri Kaye Campbell - Lincoln (Mo.) Shauna Kay Creary - District of Columbia Men's Triple Jump DeJon Wilkinson - St. Augustine's Women's 1500m run Twishana Williams - Lincoln (Mo.) Women's 100m hurdles Danielle Williams - Johnson C. Smith Samantha Elliott - Johnson C. Smith Mens 110m hurdles Sabiel Anderson - Lincoln (Mo.) * Andre Collins - Johnson C. Smith Ty'reak Murray - St. Augustine's Women's 400m dash Quanera Hayes - Livingstone * Kelly Shaw - St. Augustine's Lovan Palmer - Lincoln (Mo.) Cherrisse Lynch - St. Augustine's Nicketa Bernard - St. Augustine's Men's 400m dash Dane Hyatt - St. Augustine's * Rolando Berch - Johnson C. Smith Burkheart Ellis Jr. - St. Augustine's James Quarles - St. Augustine's Josh Edmonds - St. Augustine's Michael Ashley - Lincoln (Mo.)	Women's 100m dash Danielle Williams - Johnson C. Smith * Cam'ree Jackson - Virginia Union C'Evon Jones - Virginia Union Yanique Ellington - Lincoln (Mo.) Cardine Copeland - Lincoln (Mo.) Men's 100m dash Jeffery Henderson - Stillman * Taffawee Johnson - St. Augustine's Jermaine Jones - St. Augustine's Romel Lewis - Lincoln (Mo.) Daniel Jameison    FR    St. Augustine's Women's 800m dash Lovan Palmer - Lincoln (Mo.) Taylor-Ashley Bean - Virginia State Men's 800m dash Marcelis Lynch - St. Augustine's Women's 400m hurdles Samantha Elliott - Johnson C. Smith * Michelle Cumberbatch - Lincoln (Mo.) Yanique Haye - Lincoln (Mo.) Men's 400m hurdles Sabiel Anderson - Lincoln (Mo.) * Elhadji Mbow - St. Augustine's Daniel Ross - Virginia State Women's 200m dash Danielle Williams - Johnson C. Smith * Quanera Hayes - Livingstone Men's 200m dash Jermaine Jones - St. Augustine's * Jeffery Henderson - Stillman Taffawee Johnson - St. Augustine's Josh Edmonds - St. Augustine's
Women's 4x100m relay Johnson C. Smith * (Naffene Briscoe, Danielle Williams, Trudy-Ann Richards, Samantha Elliott) Virginia Union (C'evon Jones, Cam'ree Jackson, S'kaylah Woods, G'Ana Robinson) Lincoln (Mo.) 9Anna-Kay James, Cardine Copeland, Yanique Ellington, Jenea Johnson) Men's 4X100m relay St. Augustine's * (Ramaan Ansley, Taffawee Johnson, Burkheart Ellis Jr., Jermaine Jones) Lincoln (Mo.) (Devin Hill, Romel Lewis, Michael Ashley, Sabiel Anderson)	Women's 4X400m relay St. Augustine's * (Kelly Shaw, Cherrisse Lynch, Jaivairia Bacote, Nicketa Bernard) Lincoln (Mo.) (Lovan Palmer, Twishana Williams, Yanique Haye, Michelle Cumberbatch) Men's 4X400m relay St. Augustine's * (Josh Edmonds, James Quarles, Burkheart Ellis Jr., Dane Hyatt) Virginia State (Te'Shad Chambers, Daniel Ross, Prince Owusu-Mensah, Clive Cameron) Lincoln (Mo.) (Alonzo Allen, Michael Ashley, Jermaine Blake, Tyrone Hawkins)
* - National Champion

 

Men's Team Scores 21 of 21 Events Scored Rnk Team Points 1 St. Augustines 105.00 2 Ashland 57.00 3 Adams State 44.00 4 Grand Canyon 40.00 5 Western State 36.00 6 Lincoln (Mo.) 33.00 7 TAMU-Kingsville 30.00 7 Pittsburg St. 30.00 9 American Int'l 28.00 9 Findlay 28.00 9 Stillman 28.00 12 So. Conn. St. 25.00 12 Minnesota State 25.00 14 Colorado Mines 19.00 15 Emporia St. 16.50 16 Alaska Anchorage 16.00 17 Johnson C. Smith 14.00 17 Lake Erie 14.00 17 Slippery Rock 14.00 20 Cal St. Stanislaus 13.00 20 Central Missouri 13.00 22 East Stroudsburg 12.00 23 Chico State 11.00 23 Tiffin 11.00 23 Virginia State 11.00 23 Chadron State 11.00 27 MSU-Moorhead 10.00 27 Grand Valley St. 10.00 29 Southern Indiana 9.00 29 Abilene Christian 9.00 31 Lake Superior State 8.00 31 Augustana (S.D.) 8.00 31 UMass Lowell 8.00 31 Metropolitan St. 8.00 35 Southwest Baptist 6.00 35 Shippensburg 6.00 37 Indianapolis 5.00 37 Saginaw Valley 5.00 37 Angelo State 5.00 37 Bellarmine 5.00 37 New Haven 5.00 42 California (Pa.) 4.00 42 Missouri Southern 4.00 44 Mount Olive 3.00 44 Academy of Art 3.00 46 Kutztown 2.00 46 UC San Diego 2.00 46 UNC Pembroke 2.00 46 West Texas A&M 2.00 50 Limestone 1.50 51 Sioux Falls 1.00 51 Cal St. Los Angeles 1.00 51 Clayton State 1.00 51 Wheeling Jesuit 1.00

Women's Team Scores 21 of 21 Events Scored Rnk Team Points 1 Academy of Art 60.00 2 Johnson C. Smith 54.00 3 Lincoln (Mo.) 51.00 3 Grand Valley St. 51.00 5 Adams State 42.00 6 Grand Canyon 37.00 7 Alaska Anchorage 29.00 8 Angelo State 27.00 9 Ashland 25.50 10 Mansfield 24.00 11 Abilene Christian 19.00 11 U-Mary 19.00 11 Virginia Union 19.00 14 St. Augustine's 18.00 14 UMass Lowell 18.00 14 Simon Fraser 18.00 17 Pittsburg St. 17.00 18 Wayne St. (Neb.) 16.00 19 Western State 15.00 19 Livingstone 15.00 19 Seattle Pacific 15.00 22 Central Missouri 12.00 23 New Haven 11.00 24 Chico State 10.00 24 Seton Hill 10.00 24 Sioux Falls 10.00 24 Cal St. Los Angeles 10.00 24 Findlay 10.00 29 Emporia St. 9.00 30 Paine 8.00 30 Stillman 8.00 30 San Francisco St. 8.00 30 Metropolitan St. 8.00 30 Fort Hays St. 8.00 30 Georgian Court 8.00 30 Augustana (S.D.) 8.00 30 Hillsdale 8.00 38 Missouri Southern 7.50 39 Slippery Rock 7.00 40 Cal Poly Pomona 6.00 40 Nebraska-Kearney 6.00 42 Bloomsburg 5.00 42 Shippensburg 5.00 42 Winona State 5.00 45 Harding 4.00 45 West Texas A&M 4.00 45 TAMU-Kingsville 4.00 48 Western Oregon 3.00 48 Lake Superior State 3.00 48 Ferris State 3.00 48 Northern State 3.00 48 Tarleton State 3.00 48 Queens (N.C.) 3.00 54 Virginia State 2.00 54 Cal St. Stanislaus 2.00 54 Bentley 2.00 54 Clayton State 2.00 58 Edinboro 1.00 58 Bellarmine 1.00 58 District of Columbia 1.00