March 31, 2012
ATLANTA – Highlighted by six first place finishes and yet another school record performance by Nikita Kirillov, the Georgia Tech men’s and women’s track and field teams saw much success at the Yellow Jacket Invitational Saturday at the George C. Griffin Track and Field Complex.
Kirillov took home first place in the pole vault blowing all of his competition out of the water with a 5.45m (17-10.5) height that currently ranks fourth in the nation and just inches off of the leader. His performance once again added to own school record in the event, which he broke for the third time this season.
Tech’s sprinters saw success as another freshman, Stephanie Kalu, took home first in the 100m dash with a time of 11.79, her second fastest time of the season. Antonio McKay earned a first place finish on the men’s side, but in the 200m dash, finishing in 21.14 seconds.
The men’s mid-distance group once again shone at the meet as Rick Scheff earned the first place finish in the 800m run while Shawn Roberts took home first in the 1,500m run. Scheff’s time was his fastest in the 800m as a Yellow Jacket and the fastest among Tech runners in the event this season. Roberts’ time was just three-tenths of a second off of his career best time in the 1,500m and currently ranks eighth in the country.
Jhanelle McLeod nabbed the final first place finish on the day for the Jackets with the victory in the long jump. McLeod launched herself 5.97m (19-7), a career best for the senior.
Counting the six victories, the Jackets had 15 total top-3 finishes including runner up finishes by Zack Fanelty in the 800m run (1:52.20), by Doug Black in the 5,000m run (14:46.63), by Glenn Powell in the 110m Hurdles (14.45 seconds), by Brandon Mbaba in the high jump (2.03m, 6-8) and by Jonathan Gardner in the triple jump (15.15m, 49-8.5).
The Yellow Jackets will continue action in two places next weekend. Some of the team will head down to the Florida Relays in Gainesville while others will head west to the Stanford Invitational out in Palo Alto, Calif.
