June 18, 2004
The Georgia Tech women’s track and field team tallied its highest finish ever at the Outdoor NCAA Championships, T-15th, scoring 15 points. The championship meet was held from June 9-12, on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin, Texas. A total of seven All-America honors were earned by the Rambling Wreck at the championships, the highest ever by a Tech squad.
Sophomore high jump standout Chaunte Howard became the first Yellow Jacket to win back-to-back national titles, winning the high jump with a clear of 6’4.00″ at the outdoor NCAA meet. Howard won the indoor high jump title with a mark of 6’3.50″ and is now a four-time All-American.
Senior sprinter Amandi Rhett garnered three All-America honors for the Jackets at the national championship meet in the 100, 200 and 4×100. Rhett posted personal-record times of 11.29 and 23.24 in the preliminaries of the 100 and 200, finishing eighth in the 200 and ninth in the 100.
Junior Dana Rogers, freshman Ashlee Kidd, sophomore Andriane Lapsley and Rhett earned All-America honors in the women’s 4×100, tallying a sixth-place finish with a time of 44.25. It was the first time in program history a 4x100m relay team advanced to the finals.
Sophomore Brandy Depland and Kidd rounded out competitors for the Jackets at the NCAA Championships. Depland tallied an 18th-place finish in the triple jump with a mark of 42’0.00″, while Kidd finished 19th in the 400 meters with a time of 53.68.
Tech posted an eighth-place finish at the NCAA East Region Championships, in Gainesville, Fla., on May 28-29. The Jackets tallied 31 points as Howard set a meet record with a clear of 6’3.25″ in the high jump. The top-five individuals in each event advanced to the NCAA Championships.
Kidd tallied a second-place finish in the 400 with an Atlantic Coast Conference best time of 51.76. Rhett finished fourth in the 100-meter dash for Tech with a time of 11.58, while the women’s 4×100 finished third with a school record time of 44.00.
The Yellow Jackets tallied a program-best second-place finish at the Outdoor ACC Championships with a 146 points, finishing behind North Carolina (186.5). It was the first time in school history that the Jackets have placed second at both the indoor and outdoor ACC meets.
Howard, Kidd, sophomore Lauren Reimer and Rhett claimed ACC crowns during the outdoor ACC meet. Howard finished with a meet record clear of 6’4.75″ in the high jump to win her fourth straight title. The Riverside, Calif., native also tallied all-conference honors in the long jump (2nd-20’3.75″), triple jump (3rd-42’5.25″) and 100m hurdles (3rd-13.78), en route to being selected ACC Performer of the Year.
Kidd captured both the 200 and 400 events for the Jackets, finishing with times of 23.53 and 52.40, respectively. Reimer finished first in the heptathlon with a Tech record score of 4,973, while Rhett posted a time of 11.763 to win her first ACC title in the 100-meter dash.
Also earning All-ACC honors for Tech was Depland, sophomore Simone Parker, Rogers, junior Shanta Smith and sophomore Alexandra Van Heuven. Depland finished second in the triple jump with a personal-record leap of 43’1.75″.
Parker broke the school record in the discus (161’03”) at the FSU Relays on March 19 and tallied a third-place finish with a throw of 155’01” at the ACC Championships.
Rogers tallied a second-place finish in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.77 and finished the outdoor season with the second fastest time in the ACC (13.38) at the Yellow Jacket Invitational on April 3.
Smith earned her seventh all-conference honor at the ACC meet with a second-place finish in the 400 meters with a personal-record time of 53.38. The Miami, Fla., native just missed earning All-ACC honors in the triple jump with a fourth-place finish.
Van Heuven joined Reimer in the heptathlon, picking up a third-place finish with a score of 4535. The Burke, Va., native redshirted last outdoor season and earned all-conference honors for the first time in her career.
The outdoor season will conclude at the U.S. Olympic Trials for the Yellow Jackets, to be held in Sacramento, Calif., July 9-18. Howard, Kidd and Rhett have all tallied qualifying marks in their respective events and will be vying for one of the top three spots to represent the United States at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.
Howard currently holds the fourth best mark in the women’s high jump in the United States (1.95m) and ranks eighth in the World. Kidd ranks sixth in the U.S. in the 400 (51.76), while Rhett stands seventh in the 200 (23.24) and eighth in the 100 (11.40).
During the indoor season, Tech tallied a second-place finish at the Indoor ACC Championships for the second straight season, scoring 109 points, 15.5 shy of the champion, North Carolina. The Yellow Jackets then moved on to the Indoor NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., March 14-15, and finished in a tie for 21st place (10 pts.). It was the third best finish in program history and the first time Tech had scored at the meet in four seasons.
Howard, Kidd and Smith qualified for the indoor national championships. Howard won her first-ever national title in the high jump with a mark of 6’3.50″. The sophomore became just the second Tech athlete to win a national championship.
Smith finished 16th in the triple jump for Tech with a mark of 41’6.50″, while Kidd posted a 16th-place finish in the 400 with a time of 54.67.
At the Indoor ACC Championships, Howard and Kidd claimed ACC titles. Howard won the high jump with a clear of 6’2.75″ and earned all-conference honors in the long jump (2nd-20’01.00″) and triple jump (3rd-42’2.50″). She was named ACC Co-Performer of the Year, along with UNC’s Laura Gerraughty.
Kidd posted a season-best time of 53.50 in the 400 to win her first ACC crown. The St. Petersburg, Fla., native led the ACC in the 400 and finished seventh in the 200 (24.22).
Reimer, Rhett, Rogers and Smith earned All-ACC honors for Tech at the indoor ACC meet, all tallying runner-up finishes. Reimer posted a Tech record score of 3,659 in the pentathlon, while Rogers finished with a time of 8.69 in the 60-meter hurdles.
Smith tallied a mark of 41’6.50″ in the triple jump to earn her sixth all-conference honor. She broke her own indoor school record earlier in the season in the triple jump, tallying a mark of 43’4.50″ at the Clemson Opener on Dec. 6.
