Track Finishes With a Strong Showing at Sacramento State Invitational

Results
Sacramento, CA--- The Academy of Art University track and field program closed out its inaugural season by recording three season best marks, and three top five finishes.

The three season best marks were John Harris (Trenton, NJ) in the 200m, Geoffrey Cheruiyot (Nairobi, Kenya) in the 800m and Amos Maru (Nandi Hills, Kenya) in the 1500m. Harris, although finishing last in the mens 200 meter dash, improved his season best mark with a time of 26.39 which was .018 of a second faster than his previous best he recorded at the Mills College Track Meet on May 2. Cheruiyot who has run consistently around the same time though out the season improved his best by a whole second,1:58.07, and was able to capture sixth place. Lastly, Maru set his career high at a time of 4:03.26, which leaves him in second place among his teammates in that event, Simon Mutai holds AAU's number one spot with a time a 4:02.59.

All three top finishers came in third place in their respective events. Daveson Marindich (Eldoret, Kenya) and Denisse Correa (San Diego, CA) both came in third in the 5000 on the mens and womens side. Marindich finished with a time of 15:27.43 which was .43 seconds slower than his fastest time but was still good enough to garner him a top three finish. With a .34 second slower time Correa's 20:06.97 finish in the 5000m was also good enough to land her in the top three. And rounding out the group, Briana Stewart (Oakland, CA) who tied for third with a jump of 38-03.25.

The meet featured athletes from numerous schools throughout Northern California. And the Urban Knights also competed against a handful of unattached and even some professional competitors, including Olympic gold medalist Stephanie Brown-Trafton who threw 200-05 to win the event title on Saturday by 39-feet, 4-inches.

This meet marks the end of the 2009 Academy of Art University track & field season.
Click here to see overall 2009 individual season stats

Players Mentioned

Geoffrey Cheruiyot: Distance; 5' 9"; Sophomore

Daveson Marindich: Distance; 5' 9"; Freshman

Amos Maru: Distance; Freshman

Briana Stewart: LJ, TJ, Sprints; 5' 9"; Freshman

Denisse Correa: Distance; 5' 7"; Freshman

John Harris: Hurdles; Freshman

Simon Mutai: Mid-Distance; 5' 7"; Senior

Players Mentioned

Geoffrey Cheruiyot
: 5' 9"; Sophomore
: Distance

Daveson Marindich
: 5' 9"; Freshman
: Distance

Amos Maru
: Freshman
: Distance

Briana Stewart
: 5' 9"; Freshman
: LJ, TJ, Sprints

Denisse Correa
: 5' 7"; Freshman
: Distance

John Harris
: Freshman
: Hurdles

Simon Mutai
: 5' 7"; Senior
: Mid-Distance