Fegans and Matthews Capture Gold to Close Out ACCs

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Junior long-distance runner Nicole Fegans and senior jumper Bria Matthews both captured gold medals and First Team All-ACC honors in their respective events at the final day of the 2020 ACC Indoor Track & Field Championships in South Bend, Ind., on Saturday at the Loftus Sports Center.

Fegans won the women’s 3000m run with a time of 9:06.92 to set a new personal record in that event. It was a close battle between Fegans and Duke’s Michaela Reinhart up until the final 320m. At the 2680m mark Fegans was just over one full second ahead of the Blue Devil distance runner. Fegans recorded a time of 53.67 during the last 320m, putting her at about five seconds ahead of Reinhart’s time during that stretch (58.66).

During the last 640m Fegans came in at just under two minutes, 1:59.67, propelling her to a new PR that was almost ten seconds faster than her previous best set at the Iowa State Classic (9:16.88) in mid-February. Without considering the times from this weekend’s conference championships from across the country, Fegans time would be good enough for the 14^th-best time in all of NCAA Division I. She also set a new school record in that event, beating out the previous time of 9:22.89 set by Renee Metivier in 2002.

While Fegans was securing Tech’s first gold of the weekend Matthews was holding things down on the triple jump platform. Matthews was the clear favorite heading into the triple jump as she had already earned two ACC individual championships in that event prior to Saturday’s competition. From the very first jump of the day Matthews established herself as the best in the field hitting a mark of 13.33m to put her in first.

She would hold that spot for the remainder of the event. On her sixth and final attempt Matthews decided to cement her victory with a 13.42m jump. The next closest finisher, Florida State’s Trentorria Green, would only reach a mark of 12.94m. Matthews final leap was her best of the 2020 indoor campaign thus far ensuring that the senior would leave The Hoosier State with her third collegiate conference title in the triple jump and the eighth-best mark in the country.

This would be the fifth time in Matthews collegiate career that she captured an ACC triple jump title.

“We’re really proud of how the women competed throughout the weekend,” said head women’s coach Alan Drosky. “They capitalized on almost every opportunity they had to score points and came through with a great finish today. Nicole ran with incredible confidence and literally ran away from the field with a very dominant performance. Bria was outstanding, when it is championship season she is always at her best. ”

The Yellow Jackets had one other student athlete make podium on the final day of ACCs as sophomore Olivia Moore brought home the bronze medal in the women’s pole vault. She easily converted on marks of 3.95m (12-11 ½) and 4.05m (13-3 ½) on her first attempts at those heights. Moore cleared a height of 4.25m (13-11 ¼) on her final attempt at that mark to earn First Team All-ACC honors as well.

“Olivia is very similar to Bria in the way that she has shown herself to be such a clutch performer,” added Drosky.

Two other Jackets made Second Team All-ACC in their respective events as freshman Anna Witherspoon took sixth in the women’s 60m hurdles finals with a time of 8.44, while junior Anthony Brooks also placed sixth in the men’s 400m dash finals coming in at 46.84. Brooks set a new PR in that event topping his time of 47.19 set during yesterday’s preliminary round.

The women’s 4×400 relay team recorded its best mark of the season earning a time of 3:47.35.

“Anna had a huge weekend and is just getting started in her career,” concluded Drosky. “Taylor showed awesome resilience coming back from a disappointing hurdle race yesterday to notch a fantastic personal best in the long jump. The women did a great job on being at their best for the championship weekend.”

“We had some outstanding individual performances throughout the meet but we fell short of expectations as a team,” said men’s head coach Grover Hinsdale. “Anthony Brooks continued his outstanding meet by posting another PR in the 400m final and a sixth-place finish.”

Georgia Tech’s women’s squad ended ACCs with a total of 44 team points earning a tie for the eighth-place spot on the team leader-board with NC State. The Yellow Jacket men placed 13^th after accumulating 11 points throughout the weekend.

The indoor track & field program will return to The Flats and await an announcement on the NCAAs qualifiers for the 2020 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships which will take place in Albuquerque, N.M., on March 13-14.

FINAL MEN’S TEAM STANDINGS

1) Florida State 140

2) Virginia Tech 109

3) Virginia 87

4) Notre Dame 70

5) North Carolina 47

6) Clemson 36

7) NC State 34

8) Wake Forest 30

9) Duke 25

10) Louisville 24

11) Pittsburgh 22

12) Miami 16

13) Georgia Tech 11

14) Syracuse 9

15) Boston College 3

FINAL WOMEN’S TEAM STANDINGS

1) Virginia Tech 105.5

2) Miami 73

3) Notre Dame 61

4) Clemson 58

5) Duke 53.5

6) Florida State 52

7) Louisville 50

8) NC State 44

8) Georgia Tech 44

10) Virginia 34

11) Wake Forest 25

12) North Carolina 24

13) Pittsburgh 19

14) Boston College 13

15) Syracuse 2

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