Dec. 4, 2010
CLEMSON, S.C. – In their first meet of the 2010-11 indoor season, the Georgia Tech men’s and women’s track and field teams excelled at the Orange and Purple Winter Classic at the Clemson Indoor Track and Field Complex Saturday.
The Yellow Jacket jumpers shone on the day combining for two of Tech’s three first place finishes, the other came in the pole vault. In the high jump, Mykhail Chambers earned a first place finish ousting all of his competitors with a 2.10m jump. On the women’s side, Kayla McKeirnan took fifth with a 1.55m jump.
Omar Morrison took home the title in the long jump launching himself 7.31m in his second attempt on the day. Julitnne McKee earned a second place finish in the long jump on the women’s side with a 5.89m jump, just .05m shy of the victory.
The Jacket pole vaulters of Joanna Wright and Erica Penk were outstanding on the day, both earning heights of 3.70m. Wright took home the victory in a jumpoff while Penk earned third place honors.
On the track side of things, the Tech sprinters and hurdlers did well on the day. Two of the men’s 60m sprinters earned a spot in the finals. Mike Simms, who earned a ninth place, 7.04 second preliminary finish and Perron Jones who took 15th with a 7.16 finish in the prelims improved drastically in the finals. Jones improved all the way to second place shaving .27 seconds off of his time to finish 6.89. Simms moved up to sixth place with a 6.99 second finish.
In the 60 meter hurdles, Melanie Akwule (6th place, 8.65 prelim) and Kayla McKeirnan (16th place, 9.30 prelim) also improved in the final round as Akwule podiumed with a third place, 8.59 second finish while McKeirnan took 14th in a time of 9.28 seconds.
Tech’s 500m runners also did well on the day. Hunter Clasen had the highest finish among Tech runners with his second place, 1:05.34 showing. Jay Oatts earned a 12th place finish coming acorss in 1:07.74 while Subbu Sivanesan took 16th in 1:08.66. On the women’s side, Jasmine Isley and Kellis Christian earned back-to-back fifth and sixth place finishes coming across in 1:17.91 and 1:18.30 respectively.
Joe Fulton led Tech distance runners with his third place showing in the mile run coming across in 4:29.55. Matt Hickey earned eighth with a 4:37.49 finish while Nicholas McNutt took 11th coming in with a time of 4:49.51. Jade Sims led the women milers with a seventh place finish coming across in 5:34.67 while Katie Gezon took 12th in 6:05.02.
Leslie Njoku led the mid-distance runners with a third place, 800m finish coming across in 2:21.46 winning the third heat.
