RALEIGH, N.C. – Georgia Tech senior distance runner Nicole Fegans captured the women’s 10K title with a 32:45.30 effort to set a new meet record & school record at the first day of the 2021 ACC Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Paul Derr Track in Raleigh, N.C., on Thursday evening.
Fegans bested the previous meet record of 32:46.72 set by Dorcas Wasike of Louisville in 2018 by well over a second. She was in the front pack of four runners through the majority of the race, before taking over during the last two laps to clinch her first outdoor conference title. It was Fegans’ first time running the 10K at the collegiate level. A late surge with around 400m left propelled Fegans to her second ACC championship, adding to her 2020 indoor title in the 3K. At the time of publication that time is good for No. 5 on the NCAA Division I outdoor list.
This is the second time in program history and it is the first time since 1994 a Yellow Jacket female has won the 10K championship at ACC’s, with Tracey Harrell being the only other Tech runner to have done so.
Fellow senior Bria Matthews also had a podium performance on Thursday, taking silver in the women’s long jump with a mark of 6.42m/21′ .75″. It is the seventh time in Matthews’ career she has made podium at ACC indoor or outdoor championships, the first time taking silver in the long jump at ACC’s. She still holds the No. 10 mark in the country in the long jump, with a 5.68m/21″ 7.25″ jump registered at the Torrin Lawrence Memorial Meet.
Olivia Moore and Brian Hauch both collected Second Team All-ACC honors in the pole vault competitions. Moore placed sixth with a height of 3.88m/12′ 8.75″, while Hauch finished fifth reaching a height of 4.96m/16′ 3.25″.
Taylor Grimes joined Matthews in the women’s long jump, placing 12th following a 5.93m/19′ 5.5″ leap.
Liz Galarza and Mary Claire Solomon placed 18th- and 21st-overall in the 10K, backing Fegans up with times of 34:14.31 & 34:24.70, respectively. Katy Earwood and Kenzie Walls each took on their first career 10K race, registering marks of 35:55.68 & 3:57.35.
Lydia Troupe led the Jackets with a personal best time of 1:01.82 in the women’s 400m hurdles, finishing in 10th-place. Reese Crawford was right behind Troupe, ending in 11th-place coming in at 1:01.86.
In the women’s 1500m Abby Kettle earned a new PR with a 4:32.63 effort. The men’s 1500m race saw Henrik Anderson guide a swarm of Yellow Jackets with a 3:47.63 mark, taking 19th-place.
The men’s 200m dash saw Tyson Spears clock in at 21.73 to finish 20th in that events preliminary round. Harrison Morris also raced in his first collegiate 10K, posting a time of 29:54.20, placing 28th.
The Yellow Jacket women are in fourth-place with 21 points, while the men are in 12th with 3.5 points.
Tech will lace it up again tomorrow for day two of the 2021 ACC Outdoor Championships, starting with the women’s triple jump at 2:30 p.m. (EST). The meet will be live streamed on ACC Network Extra.
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’, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes, and the Support The Swarm Fund, created to give fans an opportunity to help Georgia Tech athletics maintain its recent momentum through the financial challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic! To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
For the latest information on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, follow us on Twitter ( @GT_TrackNField ), Facebook ( Georgia Tech Track & Field/Cross Country ) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com
