GAINESVILLE, Fl. – Georgia Tech track & field opened up Florida Relays on Friday with multiple podium performances and national top marks to kick-off Week Three of the 2021 outdoor season at James G. Pressly Stadium. The Yellow Jackets lined up against host Florida, Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Florida State, Iowa State, Kentucky, Miami, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Southern California and Virginia Tech.
Junior vaulter Olivia Moore captured gold in the women’s pole vault competition as the only athlete in the field to clear a height of 4.05m/13′ 3.5″, matching the mark she cleared last weekend at FSU Relays which is good for the 24th overall in the country at the time of publication.
Senior jumper Bria Matthews had a silver effort in the women’s long jump as she leapt for a distance of 6.47m/21′ 2.75″ on her second to last attempt, giving her the sixth best mark in the nation as of Friday night. Sophomore teammate Taylor Grimes joined Matthews in the top-10 in the long jump, as she was close to a PR in that event registering a jump of 5.94m/19′ 6″ to finish ninth.
In the 3000m steeplechase sophomore Claire Moritz made podium with a personal best time of 10:38.12, taking third-place despite an early fall over one of the barriers around the 600m point in the race.
In the men’s 5K classmate James Cragin clocked in at 14:29.45 to set a new lifetime best, placing fourth as he beat his previous time of 14:40.24 that was set during Penn Relays back in 2019.
A pair of distance runners in true freshman Kayla Rose and sophomore Taylor Cushman both collected new PR’s in the 1500m this week, crossing the finish line at 4:38.00 and 4:48.52, respectively. On the men’s end of the 1500m freshmen Nick Nyman (3:54.22) & Leif Andersen (3:57.34), as well as sophomore David Reteneller (3:57.65) also each recorded new personal best times.
Sophomore jumper McKinley Thompson was also close to topping a personal best height in the men’s high jump after clearing 2.05m/6′ 8.75″.
The Yellow Jackets will be back for day two action at Florida Relays tomorrow starting at 12:15 p.m. (EST) when Grimes, sophomore Anna Witherspoon and freshman Camille Trotman start the day off for Tech in the women’s 100m hurdles. Other events to keep an eye on tomorrow include senior Tyson Spears in the men’s 100m dash, Matthews & Witherspoon in the women’s 100m dash and a swarm of Jackets in both the men’s & women’s 800m. A full schedule of the meet can be found here.
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