Feb. 15, 2005
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech men’s and women’s track and field teams will travel to Chapel Hill, N.C. for the 2005 Indoor Atlantic Coast Conference Championships this Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 17-19, in the Eddie Smith Field House on the campus of the University of North Carolina.
The 17th-ranked women’s team finished second at last year’s meet, 15.5 points behind North Carolina. The Rambling Wreck return 2004 ACC Performer of the Year Chaunte Howard and ACC Rookie of the Year Ashlee Kidd in search of their second ACC title in four seasons.
“We’ve had some very good meets leading up to the ACC Championships and the team is confident and anxious heading into the weekend,” said women’s head coach Alan Drosky. “Health wise, things are well with the exception of ACC champion Shanta Smith [triple jump] who won’t compete indoors this season, and sophomore Jenny Sims who was fourth in the 800m last year but has missed some valuable training and competition due to a shoulder injury.
“Both Miami and Virginia Tech add significantly to the competitiveness of the conference. Miami has a very good chance to win the team championship. Both Miami and Virginia Tech have some national class individuals who will compete for ACC titles as well. If we compete like we’re capable of, we will be in a tight race for second with several other teams. We have a chance to win it all, but in order for that to happen Miami will have to stumble a bit and we will have to have a tremendous meet. We go up there with every intention of doing just that.”
Howard leads the ACC in the high jump with a NCAA Automatic qualifying mark of 6’2″ in the high jump in search of her third straight indoor crown. The Riverside, Calif., native holds the seventh best mark in the league in the long jump with a leap of 19’11.50″.
Kidd is the defending indoor ACC champion in the 400-meter dash and ranks fourth in the 200 and 400 with times of 24.15 and 53.76. Junior Andriane Lapsley ranks second in the ACC in the 60-meter dash with a NCAA Provisional time of 7.43.
The Yellow Jackets have a stronghold on the 60m hurdles heading into the indoor meet. Senior Dana Rogers and freshman Shantia Moss rank first and second in the league with NCAA Provisional times of 8.27 and 8.43, respectively. Sophomore Fatmata Fofanah ran a NCAA Provisional time of 8.43 at Notre Dame and ranks fourth in the conference, while Lapsley holds the sixth-best time in the event with a mark of 8.54.
In the heptathlon and pentathlon events, the Jackets’ Greg McCormick and Alexandra Van Heuven rank third and fourth, respectively, with scores of 4,738 and 3,306.
-GT TRACK & FIELD-
