May 13, 2011
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Georgia Tech men’s and women’s track and field teams shone on day one of the UNF Last Chance Invitational recording two first place finishes and seven season best times. Sophomore Shawn Roberts and junior Nathan Tew took home first place honors in the 1,500 meter run and 3,000 meter steeplechase respectively.
Roberts earned a new season and career best time in the 1,500 meter run, finishing with a time of 3:46.22 in the race and helping to improve his national ranking just a few weeks before the NCAA East Regionals. Tew crossed with a time of 9:38.36, his second fastest time of the year.
Also doing well in the 1,500 meter run were Alec Clifford, Morgan Stephenson, and Mark Mendrek-Laske who finished in fourth (3:51.93, season best), fifth (3:52.24) and sixth (3:52.61) respectively.
Continuing with the distance success was D.J. McMillan who crossed as the runner up in the 5,000 meter run with a time of 15:20.40. Following behind him was Obiandu Igwe who crossed fourth in a season best 15:25.68, while Niall Longobardi took ninth in 15:56.37
Melanie Akwule and her third place, season best performance highlighted the sprinters as she qualified for the 100 meter hurdles finals on Saturday with a finish of 13.69 seconds. Taylor Davidson also registered a season best time in the 100 meter dash, crossing in 11th place in 11.95 seconds. On the men’s side of things, Perron Jones’ 100 meter dash in 10.71 seconds was a season best time.
In the field events, Joanna Wright had the highest finish among Georgia Tech athletes earning a second place finish in the pole vault with a height of 4.27 meters, just shy of her season and school record best height set earlier this season. Erica Penk finished in sixth place with a season best height of 3.82 meters.
Duncan Thompson’s toss of 54.40 meters in the hammer throw was a season best for the senior, who cleared the 54 meter mark for the first time this year while Julienne McKee took fourth in the long jump, just shy of her personal best, with a leap of 6.00 meters.
The Jackets will be back in action at the UNF Invitational on Saturday where they will round out their regular season.
