June 10, 2003
ATLANTA – With the program’s most entries since 1992, the Georgia Tech men’s and women’s track and field teams field 13 competitors in 10 different events at the 2003 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which open Wednesday at Sacramento State’s Hornet Stadium.
The Jackets have five entries for both the men’s and women’s sides. Tech sent 12 entries to the 1992 outdoor meet, and 10 Jackets made the trip in 1987.
The four-day meet opens Wednesday and concludes Saturday. There will be up to three rounds of track events and qualifying rounds and finals in each field event. Results will posted following each event on both www.hornetsports.com and www.ncaasports.com. Fans can find any information needed on the championships at www.hornetsports.com/ncaa.
Junior Amandi Rhett, who will compete in the 100 and 200 meters, as well as the 4×100-meter relay, leads the women’s team. She is the first Tech woman to compete in three events since All-American Kathy Harrison in ’87. Rhett enters the meet with season and career-best times of 11.38 in the 100 and 23.35 in the 200, ranking 17th and 18th nationally, respectively. She was 17th in the 100 a year ago. As the anchor of the 4×100, Rhett led the Jackets to a school record performance of 44.35 this season, which ranks 13th in the country. All of three these entries were at-large selections to the NCAA meet.
Joining Rhett on the relay is sophomore Dana Rogers, freshman Andriane Lapsley and senior Jessica DeFreitas.
Freshman All-American Chaunte Howard enters the meet with the nation’s top mark in the high jump, a 6’2.25″ leap at the Penn Relays. The Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year, Howard qualified meet with a fourth-place finish at the NCAA East Region Championships. She also won both the indoor and outdoor conference titles this season.
Sophomore Shanta Smith rounds out the women’s qualifiers. She will compete in the triple jump after earning an at-large selection. Smith leaped 43’2.25″ at the Clemson Relays, giving her the nation’s 13th-best performance. She is a two-time ACC indoor triple jump champion.
On the men’s side, senior Bryan Swarn wraps up his collegiate career with an appearance in both the 400 meters and as the anchor of the 4×400-meter relay. The four-time All-American earned at-large invitation in the open 400 with a season-best time of 45.96 at the regional meet. He was 10th in the 400 a year ago and placed seventh in 2000.
Swarn also anchored the 4×400 to a runner-up finish and an automatic berth at the meet. This entry marks the first appearance for a Tech 4×400 at the national meet since the 2000 team, which featured both Swarn and senior Sharif Azim, placed seventh to earn All-America honors. Joining Swarn and Azim on this year’s team, which owns a season-best of 3;06.92, are sophomore Brian Ford and freshman Nate Smiga.
Also competing on the track will be junior All-American Brendon Mahoney, who will run the 1500 meters. He finished third at the regional meet with a season-best time of 3:43.30 to earn an automatic spot at NCAAs. Mahoney is a three-time NCAA qualifier and a two-time All-American.
Rounding out the Tech entries are sophomore throwers Ian Brewer and Zeb Sion, who will compete in the hammer and shot put, respectively. This pair marks just the third and fourth throwers in Tech history to qualify for the NCAA Championships. The ACC Champion, Brewer owns the school record with a toss of 204’8.00″ at the Penn Relays and qualified for NCAAs with a fifth-place finish at the regional meet.
Sion, who owns both the indoor and outdoor school records in the shot, is Tech’s first-ever qualifier in the event. He owns a season-best of 59’5.00″ from the Clemson Relays and qualified for the NCAA meet with a fifth-place finish at the regional meet.
While this meet marks the end of the collegiate season, several Jackets will also compete at the USA Track and Field National and Junior National Championships, June 19-22 at Stanford University. NCAA qualifiers Mahoney, Swarn, DeFreitas, Howard, Rhett and Smith will compete, as will freshmen Rob Kuhn, Brandy Depland and Simone Parker.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS FOR TECH QUALIFIERS (All times Eastern)WEDNESDAY1:25 p.m. - Women's 100 meters preliminaries (Rhett)8:45 p.m. - Women's 4x100 preliminaries (Rogers, Lapsley, DeFreitas, Rhett)11:35 p.m. - Men's shot put qualifying round (Sion)11:50 p.m. - Women's 100 meters semifinalsTHURSDAY1:15 p.m. - Women's 200 meters preliminaries (Rhett)4:15 p.m. - Men's 400 meters preliminaries (Swarn)7 p.m. - Women's high jump qualifying round (Howard)8 p.m. - Men's hammer qualifying round (Brewer)9:30 p.m. - Women's 200 meters semifinals10:15 p.m. - Women's triple jump qualifying round (Smith)10:25 p.m. - Men's 1500 meters preliminaries (Mahoney)11:40 p.m. - Men's 4x400 preliminaries (Ford, Azim, Smiga, Swarn)FRIDAY10 p.m. - Women's 4x100 final10:30 p.m. - Men's shot put final11:40 p.m. - Men's 400 meters semifinals11:55 p.m. - Women's 100 meters finalSATURDAY1 p.m. - Men's hammer final10:30 p.m. - Men's 400 meters final10:35 p.m. - Women's high jump final10:40 p.m. - Men's 1500 meters final11:00 p.m. - Women's 100 meters final12:30 a.m. - Men's 4x400 final
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