THE FLATS – The Georgia Tech men’s and women’s track and field teams opened the outdoor season at home with two top-three program benchmarks and multiple podium finishes on Friday.
Tahir Hines opened the meet with his first hammer throw session of the season. Hines recorded solid 55.00m+ throws in his first two attempts and was looking to strengthen his finals spot on the third attempt. The sophomore unleashed the hammer and landed at exactly 60.00m to send shockwaves.
The 60.00m throw upgraded Hines’ position as the third best hammer thrower in program history, the furthest hammer throw for the Jackets since 2006.
Tech meant business in the 1500m races, taking a 1-2-3 finish in the opening race of the season on the women’s side. Claire Shelton led the pack and finished at 4:19.43, the third-fastest program time in her debut collegiate outdoor race, surpassing assistant coach Becky Megesi’s 4:20.17 time set back in 1999, becoming the fourth Yellow Jacket to do so.
Lottie Chappell came home second at 4:22.36 with senior Gracie Marston rounding out the all-Tech podium. Stella Chambless recorded a top-10 finish in seventh as Hannah Schemmel finished 13th. Taylor Wade was within half a second of Auburn’s Nickson Chebii to claim second overall at 3:44.62 in the men’s 1500m. Alexander Arrambide was right behind in third at 3:45.04 with John Jessup placing sixth.
Dalen Penson was set to open his spring season after just two blockbuster appearances in the indoor season where he was 0.01 off the 60m hurdles school record. The freshman crossed the line at 14.07 in the 110m hurdles to finish second overall, first across all male collegiate runners in the event.
Kennedy Myers got off to a great start with a 13.78 time in the 100m hurdles to place third overall, marking just her second career sub-14 minute time in the event.
Charlie Crowder’s final long jump attempt of the day saw him fly 6.94m in the long jump for his outdoor best to finish fourth overall. Kushan Patel and Ethan Curnow finished sixth and seventh in the men’s 5000m event.
Jade Ofotan ran 11.80 in the women’s 100m to finish seventh with Sophia Richard, 11.96, and Kennedy Myers, 12.19, all recording top-15 finishes. Ava Coffey ran her PB in the women’s 5000m at 17:25.43 to claim ninth with senior Katie Hamfeldt in 13th place.
Other notable finishes included Cooper Timberman setting his personal best at 3:54.19 as Joey Sandel and Wyatt Windham made up the final six Jackets in the top-20 of the men’s 1500m. Freshmen Sadie Honig and Sophie D’Elena claimed 27th and 31st, respectively, in the women’s 1500m. D’Elena made her collegiate debut in front of the home crowd.
Tech will return tomorrow for the second day of the home invite beginning at 12 p.m. Gates will open at 10 a.m. on Saturday with parking available in the ER66 Family Housing garage.
The intersection of 10th St. and Hemphill Ave. will be closed tomorrow. Vehicles cannot enter or leave campus via Hemphill Ave., or travel from Northside Dr. to State St. via 10th St., and vice versa. More info and alternate routes are available here.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
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