May 15, 2016
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Georgia Tech track & field squad completed the ACC Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Sunday at Florida State University, and Bria Matthews led the way for the Jackets by winning the gold medal in the triple jump. The men’s team finished 14th with 15 points, while the women’s team finished 15th with 19 points.
Matthews set a school record in the triple jump with a leap of 13.73m (45-00.50), which also meets the “A” standard for U.S. Olympic Trials. Bailey Weiland also performed well for the women, finishing sixth in the high jump with a mark of 1.72m (5-07.75) and earned second-team All-ACC honors.
“Bria Matthews was outstanding today with her winning and school-record performance, and Bailey did a great job equaling her seasonal best to get sixth in the high jump,” head women’s coach Alan Drosky said. “But we’re disappointed in the outcome from a team perspective. We had some great momentum coming out of the indoor season and didn’t carry it forward.”
On the men’s side, Spencer Allen finished with a bronze medal in the 110m hurdles, finishing with a personal-best time of 13.95 in the finals.
“We had a good day of finals,” head men’s coach Grover Hinsdale said. “William Solomon got the day off to a good start with a PR in the triple jump. In the 110m HH Spencer Allen and Andreas Ward both ran PRs, finishing 3rd and 7th. Andres Littig ran another tough race in the 800m, finishing 6th. Julian Darden did a great job finishing 7th in the 400m IH. We ended the day with a season best in the 4x400m relay. All in all, it was a very solid day. I am proud of this team. We came in to the meet without two major members of the team and two that have been dealing with hamstring issues for the last few weeks. The guys bowed up and fought the entire weekend.”
Solomon finished seventh in the triple jump with a mark of 15.27m, while Littig finished sixth in the 800m with a time of 1:50.47, earning second-team All-ACC honors. Ward finished seventh in the 110m hurdles with a time of 14.42, while Darden finished seventh in the 400m hurdles with a time of 53.90.
