Feb. 12, 2011
CLEMSON, S.C. – On the first day of the Tiger Paw Invitational, nearly every Georgia Tech men’s and women’s track and field athlete that competed set a season best time. The highlight of the day was a 1-2-3 finish in the men’s 1,000m run, led by Shawn Roberts who was just seconds off setting a new school record.
Roberts finished in 2:25.84 for his first win of the season in a time that ranks in the top-30 in the country. He was followed closely by Mark Mendrek-Laske who came in with a time of 2:28.62 and Alec Clifford who finished in 2:30.54.
Overall the Jackets tallied 11 top-five finishes on the day, including six in the top-three.
Another Jacket to come in the top-three was Nathan Tew who finished in the runner-up spot in the 5,000m run. Tew crossed the line in 15:19.80. The next Jacket to finish was Obiandu Igwe who took 11th with a time of 15:37.20, nearly 40 seconds off of his previous season best time.
In the women’s 5000m run, Lauren Young and Elena Hubbard went 3-4 across the line. Young led with a time of 18:51.51 while Hubbard crossed less than a second later in 18:52.24.
The final men’s runner to finish in the top-three was Patrick Barron who took third in the mile run. Barron ended with a time of 4:14.80, a season best for the sophomore.
Jenae Anderson had a season best day in the 60m dash starting off with a time of 7.59 seconds (6th place) in the prelims followed by a season best time of 7.56 seconds (7th place) in the semi-finals and rounding out the night with a fifth place, 7.57 second finish in the final heat. Alongside Anderson was Taylor Davidson who also had an impressive showing finishing with a 12th place, 7.74 second, season best performance.
In the 60m hurdles, both Leslie Njoku and Jasmine Isley saw much success. Njoku ended the day in eighth place with a season fastest time of 8.45 seconds while Isley took 11th with a best time of 8.62 seconds.
Subbu Sivanesan also had a successful day, racing out to a fifth place finish in the 500m run with a time of 1:06.75. He was followed closely by Jay Oatts in eighth place with a time of 1:07.47.
Only a few athletes competed in field events on the day. Jasmine Kent took fourth place in the long jump with a leap of 5.78m, Mykhail Chambers and Chas Thomason earned fifth (2.05m) and 16th (1.90m) place finishes in the high jump and Duncan Thompson took eighth in the weight throw with a toss of 17.37m.
The Jackets will round out competition on Saturday at the Tiger Paw Invitational. Events will kick off at 9:30 a.m. with the shot put.
