June 17, 2004
Senior Brendon Mahoney and junior Montrell Person garnered All-America honors at the Outdoor NCAA Championships, June 9-12, in Austin, Texas, to lead the Georgia Tech men’s track and field team. The Yellow Jackets did not score any points at the outdoor NCAA meet.
Mahoney finished 10th in the 1500 meters with a time of 3:47.62 in the finals. The Cumming, Ga., native advanced to the finals with a time of 3:47.02 in the preliminaries and earned All-America honors for the first time in the 1500, third time overall (800 and mile), finishing as one of the top eight American competitors.
Person posted a personal-record time of 13.53 in the prelims of the 110-meter high hurdles, finishing ninth in the finals with a time of 14.18. The Merriville, Ind., native earned All-America honors for the first time in his career.
Tech sent eight competitors to the NCAA East Region Championships, in Gainesville, Fla., May 28-29. The Rambling Wreck tallied 17 points to record a 12th-place finish at the NCAA Region meet. The top-five individuals in each event qualified for the NCAA Championships.
Mahoney and Person posted third-place finishes for the Yellow Jackets in the 1500 and 110mHH with times of 3:50.25 and 13.66, respectively. Massey tallied a fourth-place finish in the high jump with a mark of 6’11.00″ to qualify for his first NCAA Championships, finishing 22nd with a clear of 6’10.75″.
At the Outdoor ACC Championships, April 16-17, in Chapel Hill, N.C., the Jackets finished fourth with 103 points. The point total was the highest since the 1987 season, where the Yellow Jackets finished third with 133 points. The Clemson Tigers tallied an ACC meet record, 224 points, to capture the outdoor title.
Junior transfer Marcus Canty, Mahoney, Massey, Person and junior Zeb Sion all earned All-ACC honors to lead the Jackets. Canty became the first Tech athlete to win a conference title in the javelin throw with a season-best toss of 227’01”.
Mahoney won his third and fourth ACC titles in 2003-04 at the outdoor meet, claiming the 800 (1:51.15) and 1500 meters (3:45.76). He was named the ACC Performer of the Year for both the indoor and outdoor seasons and finished his career as a four-time ACC champion and 13-time all-conference honoree.
Massey tallied a runner-up finish in the high jump with a clear of 6’11.75″, repeating his second-place finish during the indoor season. The Asheboro, N.C., native ended his Tech career as a three-time All-ACC honoree.
Person claimed his first ACC crown at the outdoor ACC meet, crossing the finish line in 13.86 seconds in the 110mHH. He is a four-time All-ACC honoree for the Yellow Jackets.
Sion became the second Tech athlete, Mark White (1990), to win an ACC championship in the men’s shot put, finishing first with a season-best throw of 58’1.00″. The Pocatello, Idaho, native is a four-time all-conference honoree for the Jackets.
Tallying qualifying times for the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento, Calif., July 9-18, for Tech is Mahoney and Person in the 1500 and 110mHH. Person ranks 11th in the United States with an automatic qualifying time of 13.53 in the 110 hurdles. Mahoney stands 16th in the 1500 meters with a provisional qualifying time of 3:41.43.
Person was the only Tech competitor to compete at the Indoor NCAA Championships, in Fayetteville, Ark., March 14-15. He qualified for the indoor NCAA meet with a NCAA provisional time of 7.76 at the Clemson Invitational on Jan. 24, setting a new Tech record in the event. Person posted a time of 7.80 at NCAAs to finish in 12th place.
Mahoney just missed qualifying for NCAAs in the 800 and the mile. He posted NCAA provisional times of 1:49.05 and 4:02.32 in the events at the Alex Wilson (March 5-6) and Meyo Invitational (Feb. 5-6) indoor track meets.
Tech posted a fifth-place finish at the Indoor ACC Championships, in Clemson, S.C., Feb. 20-21, tallying 72 points. Florida State captured the indoor crown with a total of 164 points.
Winning ACC titles for the Jackets was Mahoney and Person. Mahoney posted times of 1:53.77 int eh 800 meters and 4:12.31 in the mile, to capture both events. Person tallied a first-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 7.88 to win his first ACC crown.
Joining Mahoney and Person with All-ACC accolades were Massey, junior transfer Holt McPherson, senior Kyle Rabbitt and Sion.
Massey finished second in the high jump with a mark of 7’0.50″, earning his second all-conference honor. Massey tied the school record with a clear of 7’7’1.75″ at the Alex Wilson Invitational on March 5.
McPherson busted on to the scene for the Rambling Wreck with a third-place finish in the long jump, tallying a mark of 23’10.25″. The Mebane, N.C., finished the indoor season No. 2 in the ACC with a NCAA provisional mark of 24’11.75″.
Rabbitt crossed the finish line in 14:38.10 in the 5000 meters to finish third and earn his third All-ACC honor in the last two years. The Red Oak, Ga., native posted season-best times in the 3000 (8:11.00) and 5000, ranking second and third in the ACC.
Sion finished in the top-three in the shot put at the indoor ACC meet for the second time in the last three years. The junior thrower posted a season-best toss of 58’0.25″ at the conference championships, tallying the third best mark in the leauge.
