TALLAHASSEE, Fla. / RALEIGH – Junior distance runner Lottie Chappell led the Jackets on the final days of the Terry Long FSU Relays and Raleigh Relays with a top-three program record on Friday.
Chappell lined up the 11th spot in the 14th section of the women’s 1500m finals in Raleigh, looking to break into the 4:20s in the discipline. She started amongst the main pack in the section and built strong 400m marks, running the fastest 400m on the third run around the track of the top-10 finishers, staying below 1:10.00 in her last two laps. She hit the line at 4:19.03, knocking off her personal best by two seconds.
Her time of 4:19.03 became the third-fastest in program history, running 0.41 seconds faster than sophomore Claire Shelton who held the third-fastest program mark just a week ago. Chappell’s time marks the third time in two seasons that a Tech runner has finished below 4:20, joining Shelton and Mary Brady.
In Tallahassee, Charlie Crowder laid down a strong marker at 14.63m in his opening triple jump effort before laying down a 15.20m leap. The mark was 0.40m clear of the next jump, taking the event victory with ease and recording a new personal best. The sophomore has only cleared 15m in the event outdoors once prior to today at last year’s ACC Championships.
The sophomore class continued to make way as Cooper Timberman ran his personal best at 3:54.18 in the men’s 1500m to finish second overall, his first career podium finish as a collegiate runner. Richard Planck finished close behind at 3:56.83 to claim fourth.
Kennedy Myers dashed away to a 14.10 time in the 100m hurdles to take third place for the second time in two weeks. Dalen Penson came across the line at 14.12 in the men’s 110m hurdles race to claim fourth after leading all collegiate athletes in the event at the Yellow Jacket Invitational.
Sophia Richard and Jade Ofotan were nearly inseparable despite being in different heats. The runners finished within one-hundredth of a second of each other to earn the fifth and sixth places in the women’s 200m.
Tahir Hines closed out his weekend with his best discus throw on his final attempt at 44.13m, fresh off his program record hammer throw the day prior. Ofotan finished just under the 12-second mark to lead Tech in the women’s 100m at 11.98 and finished eighth.
Notable personal bests included Hannah Schemmel’s performance in the 5000m at 16:48.49 while Stella Chambless went seven hundredths faster than last week at 4:28.03 in the 1500m. Shelton’s section in the 5000m was interrupted due to weather and will be raced tomorrow morning at 9 a.m in Raleigh.
Tech will return to the Sunshine State for the Pepsi Florida Relays from April 3-4 in Gainesville, Florida in their next meet.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
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