MCKENZIE, Tenn. (Mon., February 2, 2009) - For the third year in a row, Samuel "Keith" Hawkins has qualified for the NAIA Nationals after setting two new personal benchmarks in the 60 meter and 200 meter dashes. Dersey Washington nearly qualified for hurdles after finishing fourteenth.
"I am very proud of all the athletes who ran this weekend," said Head Coach Matt Aird. "Each athlete did very well for being the first meet of the year."
Hawkins ran a personal best 6.99 seconds in the 60 meter dash. That was good enough to take 3rd overall at the meet. He also qualified for the first time qualified in the 200 meter dash with a second personal best of 22.51 seconds. This gave him an overall 2nd place in the Tennessee State Open track meet.
"I am very proud of Keith, he has been working really hard and deserves this," said Aird. "He is looking forward to improving both his times next week at The University of the South. Hawkins is ranked 13th in the nation in the 60 meters and 16th in the nation in the 200 meters."
Washington just missed qualifying for the NAIA Nationals in hurdles.
"We still got a lot of work to do and we will continue to work hard and hope to get a few more qualified next week at The University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn.," said Aird.
