ATLANTA (May 25) – The Georgia Tech men’s and women’s track teams will send a total of nine athletes in six events to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, May 31-June 3 at Duke’s Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, N.C.
Quarter-milers Bryan Swarn (Englewood, Colo.) and Michael Johnson (Littleton, Colo.) lead the Yellow Jackets with qualification in both the 400 meters and 4×400-meter relay. Swarn, a sophomore, surpassed the NCAA automatic qualifying standard in the 400 meters with a top time of 45.35, which ranks seventh nationally, and will anchor the 4×400 relay, which enters the NCAA meet with the nation’s fourth-best qualifying mark at 3:04.07. Johnson, a senior who leads off the relay, had a qualifying mark of 45.94.
Tech’s 4×400-meter relay, which has won four NCAA titles since 1992, also features sophomore Aaron Sink (Raleigh, N.C.) and freshman Sharif Azim (Marietta, Ga.).
On the women’s side, Tech will have two entries in the 800 meters in senior Becky Megesi (Jonesboro, Ga.), a former all-America in the 1500 meters who had a qualifying mark of 2:06.21, and junior Sara Pardue (Aurora, Colo.), an indoor all-America in the 800 meters who posted a qualifying mark of 2:06.61.
Also qualifying for the men’s team are freshman Brendon Mahoney (Cumming, Ga.) in the 800 meters with a time of 1:48.42, junior Clayton Porter (Chesapeake, Va.) in the long jump with a leap of 25-8.75, and senior Malcolm Leason (Wilmington, Del.) in the triple jump with a mark of 52-10.75.
Mahoney was named Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman of the Year for both indoor and outdoor track after winning the indoor mile and the outdoor 800 meters. Porter earned all-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships, while Leason is a first-time NCAA qualifier who won the ACC title and the Penn Relays.
