Clayton State men place sixth at Jacksonville State Gem of the Hills Invitational
Lakers’ Rolle closes in on NCAA provisional mark in 400-meter hurdles

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – April 5, 2008 – Junior Ahmad Rolle had to deal with personal adversity on Saturday as the Clayton State Laker men’s track & field team competed at the Gem of the Hills Invitational hosted by Jacksonville State. The Nassau, Bahamas native led the Lakers to its’ lone meet victory and school record as the Lakers placed sixth out of 14 teams.

Rolle learned the dreaded news during the meet that a very close relative had died that morning. Before the news came, he ran lead-off leg on the team’s 4x100-meter relay that won the event in 42.45. After the news, he broke his own team record in the 400-meter hurdles to finish second in 53.45, just missing the NCAA Division II provisional mark by .05 seconds.

“This was a tough day for Ahmad and his teammates.” said Clayton State head coach Mike Mead. “The weather was cool and damp which is not ideal conditions for sprinters. Then throw in tragic news that a loved one died and you want to be elsewhere. 

“Ahmad is a class act and will get through this, but at this time my prayers are with him and his family.”

The Lakers scored 61 points, while Alabama State won the men’s team title with 129 points. Second place went to Shorter with 112 points, while Samford was third with 87.50 points. Alabama-Huntsville followed in fourth with 77 points, and Clark-Atlanta placed fifth with 75 points.

The Lakers got solid point production from its distance corps, led by Walid Berkhedle’s second place finish in the 1500-meter run. The freshman ran 4:01.49 minutes, and also helped the team’s 4x400-meter relay to a fourth place finish. Eric Simmons finished third in the 800-meter run in 1:55.68, while Au Nguyen and Joey Chino finished fourth (15:54.04) and fifth (15:59.18) in the 5,000-meter run.

Also scoring points were Lawrence DeShields in the 110-meter hurdles (fourth), Ronreaco Lee in the long jump (sixth), Josh Tiggs in the 110-meter hurdles (sixth), Tim Moran in the 100-meter dash (seventh), Sherard Polite in the 400-meter hurdles (eighth) and Michael Walker in the long jump (eighth).

“I was quite pleased with our freshmen today,” said Mead. “Several of these guys did three, four, and five events and most scrapped for points or were very close. That’s the kind of athlete I like working with and their hard work will pay off in the future.”