NASHVILLE – The Georgia Tech men’s and women’s track and field teams completed its first day at the 2026 Vanderbilt Invitational. Tahir Hines headlined the afternoon by hurling one of the longest weight throws in program history.
Hines entered the day off his personal-best performance in the Clemson Opener last month, setting his new benchmark at 19.31m. His best effort went for 18.17m through the first three throws before the junior entered his groove. Hines recorded a 19.40 throw to eclipse his previous record before shattering his brand-new record on the very next turn by 0.39m.
His new record now stood at 19.79m, nearly half a meter clear of his best entering the contest. The thrower saved his best for last and launched his weight past his latest effort and recorded a 19.80m throw. Hines’ new record slots in as the second-best men’s weight throw attempt in program history.
In the running events, Kushan Patel recorded his first-career race win in the men’s 5000m race, clocking in a time of 14:30.07. His time was three seconds clear of the next racer and 7.43 seconds quicker than his personal best. He never led the race until the final 300 meters where he pulled away and took home the victory.
Lottie Chappell raced home to a fifth-place finish in the women’s 1000m race, setting a new personal best for herself at 2:49.29 along with Gracie Marston and Stella Chambless, all three runners recording new personal bests.
Ella Bailey claimed seventh place in the women’s 5000m event with a time of 18:24.10 in her first event of the campaign while John Jessup completed his first sub-2:30 time in the men’s 1000 race.
Tech returns tomorrow with an action-packed day with 32 athletes competing in 12 events. Fans can watch the meet on SEC Network+ and view live results on ramblinwreck.com.
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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