2010 Horizon League Outdoor Track & Field Championships Results

The University of Detroit Mercy men's track and field squad will look for a top-three team finish as the Titans head to Benedictine University in Lisle, IL, this weekend for the 2010 Horizon League Outdoor Championships hosted by Loyola University and the University of Illinois-Chicago. Action gets underway Friday, beginning with the multi-events and continues through Sunday.

The Titan men earned a fifth-place finish at the outdoor championships in 2009, and claimed fourth at the indoor championships in February.

“It's been kind of an odd season for us so far, but we really showed signs of bigger things last weekend at the Penn and Hillsdale Relays,” said Detroit head coach Guy Murray. “Last year, we steamrolled into the league championships and then the wheels kind of came off at the meet, so hopefully this year it will go the other way for us and we've turned the corner at the right time.”

As has often been the case for UDM this spring, the sprinters will play a large role in the Titans fulfilling their goal of a top-three finish.

Sophomore Vushaun Landrum (Windsor, ON/Sandwich Secondary) is at the forefront of the charge. In the 100 meter dash, Landrum's time of 10.78 seconds is the second fastest in the HL this spring, and he is ranked third in the 200 meter dash with a 21.75 clocking. In the long jump his mark of 6.80 meters, achieved at the UDM-OU Dual, is No. 4 in the league.

Junior Lesley Hanna (Exuma, Bahamas/Coakley), an indoor HL 400 meter dash champ, is the owner of the third-best time in the conference in the 400 meter dash, 49.06 seconds, is fourth in the high jump with a clearance of 1.93 meters, and is seventh in the 200 meter dash having posted a time of 22.00.

Defending HL 100 meter dash champ Earnest Cleary (Detroit, MI/Ferndale) is ranked fourth, with a clocking of 10.93 seconds.

Detroit will look to tally points in the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relays, holding the fourth-best times in both, 42.71 seconds and 3:21.59, respectively.

The Titans own a pair of top-five times in both the 110 meter hurdles and 400 meter hurdles. Freshman Anthony Donald (Waterville, OH/Anthony Wayne) is No. 3 in the 400 meter hurdles with a season best of 55.60 seconds from last weekend's Hillsdale Relays. Fellow rookie Vincent Lefler (Midland, MI/Midland) has notched the fourth-fastest times in both hurdle events, and freshman Taylor Hennrick (Traverse City, MI/St. Francis) owns the fifth-best 110 meter hurdles time.

Hennrick is also slated to compete in the javelin and the decathlon, both of which he is ranked fifth in the HL in. He has notched a throw of 39.70 meters in the javelin, and posted a score of 4,518 in the decathlon.

In the distances, junior Alex Harris' (Huntington Woods, MI/Shrine) time of 32:04.32 is the third fastest in the league, and he will be joined a sizable contingent of Titans in the race. And junior Pat Liederbach (Petoskey, MI/Petoskey), the UDM record-holder in the 5,000 meter run, is ranked fourth in the event after posting a time of 14:38.88 at the Penn Relays.

The Championships kick-off at 2:30 p.m. Friday, and you can check out updated results throughout the weekend right here.