May 23, 2007
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech men’s track and field will be heading to Gainesville, Fla. this Fri. and Sat., May 25-26 for the NCAA East Regional. Nine Yellow Jackets will be competing in eight events at the Percy Beard track on the University of Florida campus.
“We are looking forward to competing during this weekend’s NCAA East Regional Championship,” said men’s head coach Grover Hinsdale. “Our focus, as always, will be to get as many athletes qualified for the NCAA Championships as possible. The East Region is by far the toughest of the four but we are up to the challenge and ready to go.”
Senior James Lemons II leads a group of Jackets that will be competing at the Regional meet. Lemons will be competing in both the triple and long jump events. His personal-best mark in the triple jump of 52 feet, 4 inches won him an Atlantic Coast Conference Outdoor title and is the second best in the east region this season.
Thrower Steve Marcelle, the school record holder in the shot put, will also be competing in two events at the Regional. The redshirt freshman will enter into the shot put and the discus. Marcelle broke his own school record of 62 feet, 2 ½ inches in the shot put at the Georgia Tech Invitational and also set a new personal-best in the discus with a mark of 179 feet, 2 inches at the same meet. Marcelle has the third-best shot put mark and the sixth-best discus mark in the east region during the 2007 outdoor season.
Sophomore Andy Powlen will also be competing in the shot put. His best throw came at the Wake Forest Open, when he finished with a mark of 56 feet, 6 ¾ inches.
Junior Jerome Miller will also be competing in two events at the Regional. Miller, the school-record holder in the high jump, set a season- and career-best mark of 7 feet, 3 inches at the Yellow Jacket Invitational. His mark was the best in the east region this season. Miller has also qualified for the triple jump.
Sophomore Juan Cave will look to improve on his high jump qualifying mark of 6 feet, 10 ¾ inches that he set at the Georgia Tech Invitational. Freshman Alphonso Jordan will be the third Jacket to compete in the triple jump. He has the sixth-best mark in the east region this season.
Sophomore E.C. Gibbs will be lining up in the 1500-meter run at the Regional meet after qualifying with a time of 3:47.49 at the Georgia Tech Invitational. Junior Derek Hoye also qualified for the Regional at the Georgia Tech Invite, finishing the 800-meter run with a time of 1:50.07.
Senior Cristan Duvall will get another chance at the 3000-meter steeplechase after qualifying with a time of 9:06.38 at the Georgia Tech Invitational.
The top-five athletes in each event will automatically qualify for Nationals held June 6-9 in Sacramento, Calif. The remaining positions will go to at-large athletes with the best times this season.
Live results for the NCAA East Regional will be available at www.gatorzone.com.
