March 21, 2008
ATLANTA – Kimery Hern finished first in the hammer throw to lead the Georgia Tech men’s and women’s track and field team on the first day of the Wake Forest Open at Kentner Stadium on the Wake Forest campus.
Hern, a junior from Clinton, Wash., opened the outdoor season by tossing the hammer an NCAA Regional qualifying mark of 192 feet, 7 inches. In the pole vault, freshman Joanna Wright placed fourth with a mark of 11 feet, 5 ¾ inches. Freshman Erica Penk finished sixth with a mark of 11 feet, 5 ¾ inches.
Sophomore Tiffany Grant ran the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.42. Freshman Kayla McKeinan crossed the line 12th with a time of 57.73.
In the 100-meter dash prelims, freshman Jenae Anderson finished with the second fastest time of the day after crossing the line in 11.93 seconds. Senior Antoinetta McKay also qualified for the tomorrow’s finals with an 11th-place finish and a time of 12.30.
Freshman Amanda Montgomery finished the 800-meter run in the 13th place out of 107 competitors with a time of 2:14.61. Senior Jenny Sims crossed the line 16th with a time of 2:15.02. Senior Elena Linn finished 10th in the 5000-meter run with a time of 18:23.84.
On the men’s side, senior James Lemons II finished first in the triple jump with a personal-best and NCAA Regional qualifying mark of 51 feet, 7 ¼ inches. Alphonso Jordan landed in second place after finishing with an NCAA Regional qualifying mark of 51 feet, 5 inches. Freshman Omar Morrison placed seventh with a mark of 48 feet, 5 ¼ inches.
Jordan placed 15th in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.95 to qualify for tomorrow’s final. Casey Gramling finished 15th in the 3000-meter steeplechase in a time of 10:05.22.
The Wake Forest Open continues Saturday with the men’s pole vault at 9:30 a.m. The day’s running events will get under way at noon with the 100-meter hurdles final.
– RamblinWreck.com –