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Howard, Graff to Represent Tech Track and Field at NCAA Championships

March 11, 2003

ATLANTA – A pair of freshmen, Chaunte Howard and Jessica Graff, will represent the Georgia Tech women’s track and field team at the 2003 NCAA Indoor Championships, Friday and Saturday at Arkansas’ Randal Tyson Track Center. Howard will compete in the high jump, while Graff will go in the pole vault.

The 2003 Atlantic Coast Conference Indoor Track and Field Rookie of the Year, Howard enters the meet with a season-best mark of 6’0.75″ in the high jump, which ranks second nationally. Howard placed first in five of her seven high jump competitions this season, including a victory at the ACC Championships. She also earned All-ACC honors with a third-place finish in the triple jump. Howard’s 6’0.75″ performance ranks her as the second-best indoor high jumper in Tech history. She is Tech’s first NCAA qualifier in the high jump since Lynn Houston in 1999. The high jump is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Central Friday.

Graff set the school record in the pole vault in her first-ever collegiate meet and never looked back, winning three competitions this season. Her season-best mark of 13’2.50″ came on March 1 at the Virginia Tech Last Chance Meet. This performance ranks 16th nationally. Graff is the first qualifier in the pole vault, male or female, in school history. The women’s pole vault will be contested at 5:30 p.m. Central Saturday.

Prior to this season, Tech has only qualified six competitors for women’s field events, and this year marks the first time that the Jackets have sent two competitors in field events to the same championship, indoor or outdoor. Last season, sophomore Renee Metivier competed in the 3000 and 5000 meters, while Sara Pardue ran the 800 meters. Metivier redshirted this season due to injury.

Tech last scored points at the 2000 indoor championships, where the distance medley relay team placed seventh. The top eight finishers in each event score points, while the top eight Americans earn All-America honors.

Following this weekend’s action, the Jackets turn their attention to the outdoor season, which opens March 22-23 at the Alabama Relays.

-GT-

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