Jan. 25, 2007
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech track and field teams will be competing at the Diet Pepsi Invitational hosted by the University of Florida on Saturday, Feb. 27, in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla.
Twelve teams including the Jackets will be competing on the women’s side and nine teams will be challenging Tech on the men’s side. Both fields consist of Atlantic Coast Conference foe Florida State, in-state rival Georgia and host Florida. The men’s team will also be facing Miami at the meet. The Diet Pepsi Invitational is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. with the men’s weight throw and will last through out the day with the last event, the women’s 4×400-meter relay, to begin at 8:10 p.m.
“The Diet Pepsi Invitational at Florida will offer us another great opportunity as we continue our march to the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships on February 22-24,” said men’s head coach Grover Hinsdale.
“This is a great meet, with outstanding competition and a first-class indoor facility,” added women’s head coach Alan Drosky. “We’ve had some great performances on Florida’s track over the years and we’re looking for more of the same this weekend.”
The men’s team finished fifth overall at the Clemson Invitational last weekend. Sophomore Juan Cave took first in the high jump with a mark of 6 feet, 11 ¾ inches. Junior Jerome Miller placed second behind Cave after losing the tiebreaker though jumping the same the height in the high jump. Senior James Lemons, sophomore Nigel Orr and freshman Alphonso Jordan each scored for the men’s team in both the triple jump and the long jump. Also scoring for the men was the 4×400-meter relay `A’ team, which ran a time of 3:22.29 and finished fourth.
“I have been pleased with the progress of this team over the last two weeks and we are looking forward to lining up and competing well at the O’Connell Center this Saturday,” said Hinsdale.
Tech’s women, who are ranked 23rd in the latest Trackwire poll, finished eleventh at the Clemson Invitational, but only had a small group of athletes participating in the meet. Junior Shantia Moss placed first in the women’s 60-meter hurdles with a NCAA provisional time of 8.25 in the finals. Also scoring for the women was senior Lindsey Vincent, who placed fifth in the long jump with a mark of 18 feet, 11 ¾ inches.
Senior All-American Ashlee Kidd and freshman Tiffany Grant will not be with the team this weekend. They will be competing at the Penn State National meet in the Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track on the Penn State campus in University Park, Penn.
“We rested a lot of people last week, so they’re ready to go at this weekend’s meet,” said Drosky.
Live stats for the Diet Pepsi Invitational will be available at www.gatorzone.com for the entire meet.
