Panthers Open Racing Season

By Tyrone Blanks, Contributor

Conway, AR (March 10, 2018) – The Philander Smith College Panthers are off to a great start this Track and Field season as their program competed in its first outdoor meet at the University of Central Arkansas on Saturday afternoon in Conway, AR. Despite threats of inclement weather in the forecast, the Panthers came out of the blocks competing and holding their own against teams established programs that included Arkansas Pine Bluff, Mississippi Valley, Southern Arkansas, Hendrix College, and the host school UCA.

On the Men's side, the 4x100 team that consisted of Daylon Simms (First Leg), Damien Gatson (FR) (Second leg), Nasear Roundtree (FR/Milwaukee, WI) (third leg), and Benjamin Mason (anchor leg) fought hard and were able to finish strong with a time of 45.30. Not too shabby for a newly re-launched program consisting of all freshman.

Both sprint medley relays also competed very well. The men's sprint medley team consisted of Kameron Lewis (SO/North Little Rock, AR) (200 meter leg), Jamehz Harden (200 meter leg) Noel Lyons (FR/New Orleans, LA) (400 meter leg) and Santerris Booker (SO/Hughes, AR) ( 800 anchor meter leg). The Women's Team consisted of Sha'Erra Harlan (200 meter leg), Tamera McDaniel (200 meter leg), Paige Campbell (400 meter leg), and Zora Talbert (800 anchor leg).

Both teams continued their impressive showings as the men's 4x400 meter team placed second in their heat (3:32.20) and was able to best UCA with an amazing finish by the anchor leg Daylon Simms. Others contributing on that team are Noel Lyons (first leg), Nasear Roundtree (second leg), Damien Gatson (third leg), and Simms.

The Panthers also demonstrated some great talent on the individual ledger. On the women's side, Paige Campbell gave the Panthers two first places finishes in her heat in 200 and the 400 with times of 28.36 and 1:04, while Zora Talbert also ran well with a third place finish in the 200 with a time of 27.85 and a 1:05 in the 400, respectively.

Ramona Smoot, Alexis Burns, Rachel Johnson, and Alexia O'Neal were also great competitors in the women's 200 meter dash. On the men's side Damien Gatson, Nasear Roundtree, Daylon Simms, Benjamin Mason, Kameron Lewis, and Jamehz Harden all had great competitive runs in the 100, 200 and the 400 meter dash. PSC Throwers also competed well with Aquann Williams throwing a personal best of 22 feet in the shot put and James Harrison (FR/Baton Rouge, LA) throwing 31 feet in the shot put.

"I couldn't be more proud of what this team was able to come out here and accomplish today," said head Coach Chris McConnell. The Athletic Director of Philander Smith College (Nathan Cochran) also came out to support the Panthers. "The positive energy amongst the team was very prevalent. They were all so supportive of each other and they all did an amazing job competing at such a high level of competition," Cochran said. "I very proud of what Coach

McConnell and the Track team were able to accomplish today. Even though we have much improvement to do, our team is hungry and is eager to be the best team that we can be."

Philander Smith Track and Field will competing March 16-17 at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. For complete coverage of Philander Smith College Track and Field, please follow @PSCAthletics1 on Twitter and Philander Athletics on Facebook. You can also find up-to-date information on all things Philander Smith Athletics at www.philanderathletics.com.