Reed won the men’s long jump at the Carolina Challenge

COLUMBIA, SC North Carolina A&T men’s track and field jumper Aeneas Reed continued to showcase the Aggies’ depth on Friday. Reed secured his first career victory in the men’s long jump and his first career winning streak at the University of South Carolina’s Carolina Challenge at the South Carolina Indoor Track and Field Complex.

A&T’s women’s track and field team also competed and showed some depth as a graduate Ayola Gbolade finished second in the women’s 1-mile morning run. The men ended the day with five top 5 positions. The women had four.

Reed jumped a personal-best 23 feet 9 inches to finish 9 inches ahead of Tennessee’s T’Mars McCullum. Last week, Reed jumped an indoor personal best of 22 feet, 10 inches at the HBCU Showcase Challenge. Reed is ranked No. 1 in the long jump in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). His previous best finish during the indoor season was second at the JDL Fast Track on January 23, 2022.

Gbolade also set a personal best on Friday. He finished his mile run at 5:14:31. A teammate Camille Herring didn’t finish far behind in third, surpassing his own record time of 5:17.23. Junior Ania Campbell provided three Aggies in the top 10 in the travel event as she crossed in 5:30.02 to finish ninth.

Gbolade’s second place finish followed her victory in the 800m at the HBCU Showcase Challenge last weekend. Gbloade’s mile time could have him ranked in the top 15 in the conference by the end of the weekend.

A&T All-American Hurdling Paula Lohi was another impressive performance. He surpassed last week’s 8:26 60 hurdles time in Friday’s 60H preliminaries with a time of 8:20. But he finished third in the final with a time of 8.31. Salmon’s early 60-hour time could put him in the top 15 nationally. Also, he has the best CAA time.

Salmon’s teammate Lucheyona Weaver ran 8.39 in the 60H prelims before finishing fourth in the finals in 8.34. Weaver is second in the conference behind Salmon in 60H. On the men’s side, in the hurdles, freshman Jason Holmes finished fourth with a time of 7.93.

Of course, the Aggie men had good performances in the sprints. Freshman Isaac Henderson ran a personal best 21.99 to finish second behind Tennessee’s Aidan McDuffie in 21.84. Three Aggie men finished in the top 5 in the 60m, led by junior Caleb Jackson’s 6.83. Graduate from Malcolm Croom-McFadden finished fourth in a season-best 6.86 and Henderson sixth in 6.90 seconds. The weekend could put four Aggies in the top 10 in the CAA 60m, including Henderson, Brandon newsJackson and Croom-McFadden.

Tomorrow’s activity is by invitation only. The men’s and women’s Aggies 4×400-meter relay teams compete in these invitational events.