CORAL GABLES, Florida (March 16, 2019) - The FIU track and field program wrapped up its opening weekend at the University of Miami's Hurricane Invitational on Saturday, with a number of Top 5 performances and personal bests to conclude the debut of the outdoor season. Results can be found HERE.  
 
"We had some athletes that really don't have a big time event indoor, and other athletes who are very good indoor athletes as well, so we had very specific things we wanted to happen for certain athletes this weekend," Head Coach Ryan Heberling said. "And I think it did happen for a lot of them."
 
The Panthers saw great success in the field events throughout the weekend. In the women's hammer – Trinavia Williams  placed in third with a throw of 56.19m.
 
In the men's long jump, FIU saw two athletes place in the top four, with Reed Service jumping 7.35m for second, and Queshun Riggins earning a 7.12m for fourth. Service's mark was the top jump for a college athlete in the meet. Riggins also competed in the triple jump, finishing fifth.

On the women's side Samantha Ebanks placed fourth with a jump of 5.78m, with Kayla Woulard and Rayquel Berry also placing in the top eight. Dina Cosic earned a fifth-place mark with a throw of 40.52m in the javelin.
 
"Every throwing event – we had very, very good results," Heberling said. "A school record in the women's discus and regional qualifiers as well. We're just hoping we can build off that going into UCF next week."
 
The FIU men placed fifth in the 4x100m relay, just .1 of a second off the third spot. As the individual events rolled on, junior Akeem Simmons set a personal best in the 400, with a time of 48.79.
 
Jada Roberson, coming off a third-place finish in the 60m at the Conference USA Indoor Championships, placed sixth in the 100m, crossing the line in 11.95. The 800m saw Sabrina Quijano set a five second PR in the event, running a 2:16.28 for fourth place. Freshman Jada Hill displayed her potential in the 400 hurdles, placing seventh in 1:03.83.
 
"Our biggest thing was just trying to knock the rust off," Heberling noted. "For us, it's not as much rust as some other teams. We've been outside since – the dawn of man – so we don't have to worry about the conditions as much. You can tell a lot of the athletes are comfortable on the outdoor track."
 
As the meet came to its conclusion, the Panthers saw strong performances to finish out the opening weekend. Rahel Gerbretsadik finished third out of 41 runners in the 1500m, running 4:49.07. Alec Dominguez made his return to the track in the 1500, crossing the line in 4:34.

"Honestly for a lot of our athletes, we're just trying to set up some really good things to happen at Florida Relays, and put ourselves in position to be real successful there."
 
UP NEXT
The Panthers will travel to Orlando next weekend for the UCF Invite, a two-day meet beginning on Friday, March 22.



SOCIAL MEDIA 
Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUVolleyball) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUVolleyball) for all the latest FIU volleyball news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Google (FIU Athletics), Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers) , and Instagram (FIUathletics).