Chapel Hill, N.C. Jamel Brown came within a few hundredths of a second from matching his own school record in the 60m hurdles as The Citadel track and field team got the 2008 season into full swing at the Eddie and Jo Smith UNC Classic Saturday. The team recorded 16 top-10 finishes on the day.

Brown opened the day in the preliminary heats of the 60m hurdles with a second-place finish, running 8.51. That time was topped shortly thereafter when the redshirt junior ran 8.49 in the finals to finish fifth. That mark came five-hundredths of a second away from matching his 8.44 school record time in the event that he ran at the 2007 Southern Conference Indoor Championships on Feb. 18 of last year.

Brown continued his stellar weekend with a personal record time in the 400m, running 52.93 to finish second in his preliminary heat.

In another preliminary heat of the 400m, the Bulldogs finished 2-3 as senior Jonathan Vallejo recorded the runner-up finish with a time of 52.17 in his first appearance since an injury sidelined him at the 2007 SoCon Outdoor Championships. Junior Bryan Hladik followed Vallejo in that heat with a time of 53.44.

Junior Zach Johnson finished seventh in the 800m, running a personal-best time of 1:59.44. Johnson's previous top time was 2:00.99 set last February.

The Bulldog men finished 1-2-4 in the 5,000m run with redshirt sophomore Alex Anderson leading the way with a time of 15:40.30. Anderson was followed by freshman Zach Yereb's 16:42.63 while sophomore Daniel Knight finished fourth with a time of 16:54.53.

On the women's side, senior Jodi Whittle ran an impressive 10.03 in the 60m hurdles, the second-fastest time in school history, in her first performance in the race. Whittle also excelled in the 400m as she finished fourth in her preliminary heat with a time of 59.06.

The Citadel ladies finished 1-3 in the 5,000m run as sophomore Natalie Wolin won the race with a time of 19:02.48 while junior Erin Ritter finished third, running 19:41.84.

The Citadel returns to action on Jan. 26 when the Bulldogs head to Gainesville, Fla. and the University of Florida's O'Connell Center for the Tom Jones Memorial Classic. For complete coverage of Bulldog Track and Field, visit the official website of The Citadel Athletics at CitadelSports.com.