April 5, 2008

AUSTIN, Texas - Navy's 4x800-meter relay team set a school record as several championship-qualifying marks were produced at the four-day Texas Relays this past Wednesday through Saturday at Mike A. Myers Stadium.

The Midshipmen quartet of Lucas Burke (Sr./Bakersfield, Calif.), Craig Meekins (Sr./Baldwin, N.Y.), Ben Kozy (Sr./Houston, Texas) and Paul Harris (Sr./Fairburn, Ga.) combined for a fourth-place time of 7:27.59. Navy finished only behind Texas, LSU and Mississippi State, while placing ahead of Arkansas, USC and Texas A&M. Navy's time this Thursday was 0.47-second faster than the previous program record set at last year's Patriot League Championship.

Darryl Hunter (Sr./Des Moines, Iowa) came up with championship distances in two events. He delivered a NCAA regional-qualifying mark in the shot put, placing third with a 55'11-1/4" (17.05 meters) showing. He also met the IC4A standard in the discus throw, as he uncorked a career-best toss of 166'8" (50.79 meters) to rank 11th. Teammate Andre Barber (Sr./Carrollton, Texas) also surpassed the IC4A distance in the event, registering a throw of 162'6" (49.53 meters).

Bo Lawson (Sr./Newton, N.J.) produced a NCAA regional-qualifying distance in the javelin throw for the second-consecutive week, as he landed sixth with a 204'4" (62.28 meters) effort. John Olsen (Sr./Staten Island, N.Y.) finished sixth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with an IC4A qualifying time of 9:08.59.

Navy will head up to West Point this Friday to compete against Army in the annual outdoor Star Meet, starting at 2:30 p.m.