March 28, 2003
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Highlighted by three new NCAA East Regional qualifying performances, the Georgia Tech men’s and women’s track and field teams enjoyed a solid first day at the Florida Relays at the Gators’ Percy Beard Track and Field Complex. The Jackets now own a combined 13 regional qualifying marks on the season.
In his first race of the outdoor season, junior Brendon Mahoney clocked a time of 1:50.82 in the 800 meters to place third and meet the NCAA regional qualifying standard. Joining Mahoney with a regional qualifying mark was senior Bryan Swarn, who ran 47.07 in a fourth-place finish in the 400 meters. Senior Sharif Azim also ran a solid 400 meters, finishing 12th in 47.79.
On the women’s side, freshman Chaunte Howard, who is already regionally qualified in the high jump, met the standard in the long jump, with a first-place finish and a mark of 19’5.50″. She will compete Saturday in the Invitational high jump. Additionally, sophomore Dana Rogers improved her regional qualifying standard with a career-best mark of 13.80 in the 100-meter hurdles to finish seventh.
In other action, Jessica DeFreitas ran a team season-best 11.97 to finish 12th in the 100 meters, while junior Amandi Rhett (24.18) and sophomore Shanta Smith (24.24) finished 10th and 11th in the 200 meters.
Other strong showings came from sophomore Neil McDonagh, who was fifth in the 1500 meters (3:51.55) and sophomore Ian Brewer, who was third in the discus (164’2.00″). Brewer’s mark was a team season-best.
In Friday’s relay action, the men’s 4×200 team of Chris Crawley, Donald Beamer, Brian Fraser and Spencer Irvine finished eighth in 1:26.39, while the women’s team of Rhett, Rogers, DeFreitas and Smith was ninth with a time of 1:36.93.
The meet resumes Saturday with several Yellow Jackets competing in both the Invitational field events and the relay portion of the competition.
-GT-
