Lincoln track and field posts top performances at Kansas Relays

LAWRENCE, Kan. - The Lincoln men's and women's track and field team recorded four event wins at the Kansas Relays, which were held Wednesday through Saturday at the University of Kansas.

Renea Ambersley posted the only individual win for the Lincoln women, finishing first in the 400-meter dash. After clocking the top time of 54.40 seconds during the preliminaries, Ambersley nearly cut a full second off her time in the finals, finishing in 53.45 seconds and winning by more than a full second.

Ambersley still owns the fastest time in the 400 in NCAA Division II this season at 53.34 seconds, set earlier this month at the Mizzou Spring Open.

The other two wins for the Lincoln women came in their relay events.

The 4x100-meter relay team of Shaian Vandenburg, Rene Medley, Ambersley and Christine Moss clocked a first-place time of 45.42 seconds, which is the second-fastest time in Division II this season.

The other win came in the 4x400-meter relay. Moss, Kissi-Ann Brown, Shanice Clarke and Ambersley won in 3:39.53, which is the fourth-fastest time in Division II.

Raymone Campbell had the lone win for the Lincoln men. He took first in the 200-meter dash with a time of 20.50 seconds, which is the fastest time in Division II this season. His teammate, Javan Gray, finished third in 20.56 seconds, the second-fastest time in Division II.

So far this season, those two times are the only automatic qualifiers in the men's 200 for the NCAA Division II national championships.

Medley took second in the women's 200 with a time of 23.10 seconds, which is the fastest time in Division II. Brown also finished second in the women's 400-meter hurdles in 1:00.58.

The Lincoln men had two runner-up finishes as well. Ryan Brown took second in the triple jump with a distance of 52 feet, 7.25 inches, which is the top distance in Division II. The Blue Tigers also took second in the 4x100 in 40.69 seconds with the quartet of Kizan David, Gray, Tyrese Halls and Campbell.

In the men's 4x400, Halls, Mohammed Kouyate, Damaine Dixon and Coy Spence finished third in 3:11.06.

Rounding out the top-three finishes for Lincoln was Rusheda Blake in the women's triple jump. She finished third with a distance of 40-3.25.

The Lincoln women had three fifth-place finishes: Clarke in the 400 hurdles (1:02.64), Melissa Tyme in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (11:40.40) and Moss in the 400 (55.02 seconds).

The Lincoln men had four sixth-place finishes: Kouyate in the 400 (48.88 seconds), Dixon in the 400 hurdles (53.89 seconds) and David in both the long jump (24-3.75) and triple jump (48-8.25).

Spence also placed eighth in the 110-meter hurdles in 15.41 seconds.

Lincoln will compete next in the Drake Relays, which begins Thursday in Des Moines, Iowa.