BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Fire made their presence felt Friday against top competition. Southeastern University recorded NAIA Qualifying efforts by Davien Worrels, James Williamson III and Irmiris Mendez in the Birmingham Indoor Icebreaker.
Both Worrels and Williamson impressed the event's field made up of mainly NCAA DI talent with second-place finishes in the 400-meter and 200-meter races. Mendez posted the Fire's top women's performance in fourth for the 60-meter dash. All three SEU competitors posted NAIA "B" Standard times.
Worrels ran the one lap of the 400 meters in 48.52 behind only Mississippi College's Grayson Foster (48.37). Williamson III was not far from reaching the NAIA "A" standard in the 200 meters at 21.49, only .06 from the highest standard, and the only man better in the event was Bethune-Cookman's Shanard Walker.
For the women, Mendez ran her way to a time of 7.61 for the 60 meters, notching the NAIA "B" Standard set at 7.65.
The SEU women's two relays had a strong day. The distance medley relay of Jillian Blaser, Jessica Brown, Maci Mills and Grace Feder ran to 12:56.01 for a runner-up finish. The Fire's 4x400-meter relay – Ar'Briel Scott, Mendez, Areeyanna Bonds and Jaa'ln McBride – teamed for fifth place in a good 3:59.98 time, less than a second off the NAIA "B" Standard.
Staying with the women, Mills, Feder, McBride and Blaser logged times in the top 11 of the 1000 meter run. Mills led the group in sixth (3:04.48), while Feder, McBride and Blaser came one after the other in ninth (3:06.55), 10th (3:07.73), and 11th (3:08.91).
Alyssa Morley had the best Fire field distance with a 5.45-meter leap in the long jump for eighth.
On the men's side, Cameron Alamia was not far behind Williamson, narrowly missing reaching the NAIA "B" Standard, as well, in the 200 meters in 21.71 for fifth place.
The SEU 4x400-meter men's relay quartet of Malik Blunt, Worrels, Williamson and Joseph Taylor garnered fourth, but they narrowly missed a "B" Standard time – at 3:19.45 with the Standard only being 3:19.00.
The Fire men had a trio of top 10 field distances. In the high jump, Jeremiah Rutledge leaped 2.00 meters for fifth. Both Jonathan Grant and Kevin Parker claimed sixth (4.45m) and eighth (4.30m) in the pole vault field.
The SEU teams now travel back to Florida where they will take part in Saturday's Keiser University Invitational.
