Music City Challenge Results | Tiger Paw Invite Results | Iowa State Classic Results |
NASHVILLE, Tenn. | CLEMSON, S.C. | AMES, Iowa – The Georgia Tech track & field program closed out the final day of a busy three meet weekend today at the Clemson Tiger Paw Invitational, Iowa State Classic and Music City Challenge.
“We had a solid weekend with some high level performances and a significant number of personal bests,” said head women’s coach Alan Drosky. “Our standouts continue to perform very well. Bria [Matthews] got in her best jump of the year, Nicole [Fegans] notched another school record, Taylor [Grimes] reached personal bests in both her events, Olivia [Moore] had a very good weekend, Anna [Witherspoon] continues to be consistently competitive, and Kim [Hallowes] got an ACC qualifier with her personal best effort. So a number of good things happening, but we also need others to step up as we head into the conference championships.”
MUSIC CITY CHALLENGE
The Jackets were strongly represented in the men’s mile run in Nashville this weekend. Freshman Zach Jaeger was the first Tech runner to cross the line as he took sixth-place with a time of 4:12.47 in his first collegiate indoor mile race. He was almost immediately followed by his fellow Yellow Jackets in junior Sam Costa and sophomore Henrik Anderson, each of whom set new personal records. Costa took seventh with a time of 4:12.76 to beat out his previous PR of 4:12.86 set at the Charlie Thomas Invitational earlier this month. Anderson placed eighth with a time of 4:13.01 to set his new PR, just barely breaking his previous best of 4:13.69 set during last year’s Music City Challenge.
Three Tech runners were able to place in the top-20 in the men’s 800m dash as juniors Bennett Hillier and John Lyons were joined by freshman Harrison Fultz. Hillier placed 11th as he recorded a time of 1:53.23. Lyons came in at 15th-place on the leaderboard clocking in at 1:54.65. Fultz earned a new personal best in that event as he took 17th-place with a time of 1:55.70, toppling his previous PR of 1:57.47 set at the Bob Pollack Invitational earlier this indoor season.
Freshman Ronan Sullivan also recorded a new personal best in the men’s 3000m with a mark of 8:36.69. He was able to massively overcome his previous record of 8:44.50 that he had earned at both the Bob Pollack Invitational and Clemson Orange & Purple Elite meet.
On the women’s end of things sophomore Claire Mortiz led a swarm of Yellow Jackets in the women’s 3000m run as she placed 11th overall. Mortiz’s time of 9:47.62 earned her a new PR as well as she was over four-seconds faster than her previous PR of 9:51.88 set at the Vanderbilt Invite in mid-January. Freshman Isabella Bowland will also be heading back to The Flats with a new PR in the 3000m as she finished with a time of 11:01.54, nearly 13-seconds quicker than her previous best of 11:14.61 that was also earned at the 2020 Bob Pollack Invitational.
TIGER PAW INVITATIONAL
Senior Bria Matthews recorded a jump of 13.16m to take fourth-place in the women’s triple jump to lead the Jackets in Clemson. She was able to clear that mark on her sixth and final attempt to recorded the highest finish for the Yellow Jackets on the individual leaderboard at the Tiger Paw Invite.
“Throughout the weekend we had great performances,” said head men’s track & field coach Grover Hinsdale. “The highlights from Friday were Olivia Moore’s indoor PR in the pole vault and Maurice Simpson’s in the 60m. Bria came back today and had a season best in the triple jump. With ACC Indoor Championships a week from this upcoming Wednesday we have a big week of preparation ahead of us.”
Tech had a pair of top-20 performers in the men’s pole vault as freshman Brian Hauch (4.80m) and sophomore Cole Shea (4.50m) took 15th– and 20th-place, respectively. Hauch was able to clear that height on his third and last attempt at that height, while Shea hit his mark on his first attempt at that height.
Freshman McKinley Thompson also had a top-20 finish on the day as he hit a mark of 2.02 in the men’s high jump on his second attempt at that height to take 14th-place.
IOWA STATE CLASSIC
Senior Kim Hallowes’s time of 4:47.28 in the women’s mile earned her a new career best and 12th-place finish. During the last 400m she was clocked in at 1:10.63 having moved up a total of four spots in the race since the midway point.
The Yellow Jackets will return to The Flats and prepare for postseason action at ACC Indoor Championships in South Bend, Ind., on Feb. 27-29.
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the A-T Fund’s Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes, and Athletics Initiative 2020, Georgia Tech athletics’ ongoing $125 million initiative to allow Tech to recruit the nation’s most elite student-athletes, build a better student-athlete once they arrive on The Flats and, ultimately, win! To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
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