Tech Prepped for ACC Outdoor Championships

Meet Info /// Meet Schedule

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech track & field opens up the 2021 post season this weekend as the Jackets are headed to Raleigh, N.C., for the 2021 Atlantic Coast Conference Outdoor Championships being held at Paul Derr Track Facility on the campus of NC State from May 13-15. ACC Network+ will provide coverage throughout the weekend. Links to each day’s livestream can be found here:

May 13 – ACC Network Extra
May 14 – ACC Network Extra
May 15  – ACC Network Extra

Flash Results will again score this year’s ACC Championships, and live results can be accessed at here.
Competition begins Thursday at 11 a.m. with the men’s javelin throw, which will be followed by finals in both the men’s and women’s pole vault, men’s and women’s hammer, and men’s and women’s long jump. Opening men’s decathlon and women’s heptathlon events are also scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

Prelims are set for early Thursday evening in several running events, followed by the women’s 10K final at 8:10 p.m. (EST) and the men’s 10K at 8:50 p.m. (EST). A full slate of events and preliminaries continues Friday and Saturday, with finals in 20 running events wrapping up the Championships on Saturday evening from 5 p.m. (EST) until 9 p.m (EST).

Three Yellow Jacket women rank in the top-25 in the country in their respective events in the latest National Outdoor List. Bria Matthews makes the list twice in the long & triple jump. Here’s how the Jackets look on the national level:

No. 10 Bria Matthews – Women’s Long Jump – 6.58m/21′ 7.25″
No. 11 Nicole Fegans – Women’s 5K – 15:37.16
No. 22 Bria Matthews – Women’s Triple Jump – 13.19m/43′ 3.25″
No. 25 Shanty Papakosta – Women’s High Jump – 1.79m/5′ 10.5″

Matthews long jump effort is good for first in the ACC and fourth in the NCAA Division I East Region, while her triple jump mark holds a No. 9 ranking in the East, and No. 4 rank in the ACC. Fegans 5K is currently sixth-best in the NCAA Division I East Region, as well as No. 4 mark in the ACC.

Andrew Kent’s 13:47.77 5K at Raleigh Relays gives him the No. 22 time in the East. That time puts him ninth in the ACC.

Brian Hauch also owns the No. 22 spot in the East in the men’s pole vault, following a 5.18m/17′ 0″ performance at the Torrin Lawrence Memorial Meet. That height is also good for the third-best clearing in the ACC. On the women’s end of the pole vault, Olivia Moore is 17th in East in that event with a 4.17m/13′ 8.25″ outing at the Crimson Tide Invite, which also puts her at No. 3 in the ACC heading into the weekend.

Taylor Grimes joins Matthews in the top regional marks in the long jump, after she had an outdoor career-best display at the Torrin Lawrence Memorial Meet covering a distance of 6.39m/20′ 11.75″ to put her at No. 14 in the region & No. 4 in the conference. In the men’s triple jump John Watkins is No. 24 in the East & No. 6 in the ACC after posting a leap of 15.61m/51′ 2.75″ at the Crimson Tide Invite.

Freshman distance runner Alex Thomas is third in the ACC with a time of 1:49.09 in the men’s 800m. Papakosta owns Tech’s highest ranked regular season mark in regards to ACC rankings, with her 1.79m/5′ 10.5″ putting her at No. 2 in the ACC.

Here’s what the Jackets lineup is looking like for ACC Outdoor Championships:

Mark Kimura Smith will kick the weekend off for the Jackets as he takes on the men’s javelin at 11 a.m. (EST) on Thursday. Moore & MacKenzie Gignilliat will follow that event at noon (EST) as the pair looks to compete in the women’s pole vault finals. A quartet of Jackets will swarm the women’s long jump at 3:30 p.m. (EST), as Matthews, Grimes, Onyiye Chukka and Alexis Kitchens look to represent the White & Gold in that event.

Hauch will following the long jump crew in the men’s pole vault beginning at 4 p.m. (EST).

Running events get underway on Thursday at 6 p.m. (EST) as Reese Crawford and Lydia Troupe open up preliminary action on the track for Tech in the 400m hurdles. Men’s sprinter Tyson Spears faces the 200m dash prelims at 7 p.m. (EST), before Abby Kettle toes the line for the 1500m at approx. 7:20 p.m. (EST).

A small group of men’s distance runners in Henrik Anderson, Braeden Collins, Zach Jaeger and Joshua Williams closes out the preliminary rounds for Tech in the 1500m at 7:45 p.m. (EST).

The men’s & women’s 10K finals end the first day of action for Tech. Five Yellow Jacket women will take on the 10K, with the group consisting of Fegans, Liz Galarza, Mary Claire Solomon and the freshman duo of Kenzie Walls & Katy Earwood. Harrison Morris will be the lone Yellow Jacket male to take on the 10K to end the evening on Thursday.

Matthews starts Friday’s action off for Tech in the women’s triple jump at 2:30 p.m. Watkins follows her in the men’s triple jump at 5:30 p.m. (EST).

Grimes & Anna Witherspoon begin Friday’s preliminary rounds for the Jackets in the 100m hurdles at 6 p.m. (EST). Anthony Brooks and Ben Jean will hit the blocks for the 400m race at 6:55 p.m. (EST). Sheleah Harris & Spears will each compete in the 100m dash starting at approx. 7:15 p.m. (EST). The distance crew closes Friday’s events with the 800m and 3000m steeplechase, which Claire Moritz and Cole Miller will lead the charge on.

Saturday Papakosta and freshman teammate Carla du Plessis begin the final day of championships for Tech in the women’s high jump at 2 p.m. (EST). McKinley Thompson will follow with the men’s high jump at 4:30 p.m. (EST). The women’s 4×100 relay team consisting of Matthews, Grimes, Kitchens and Witherspoon takes on that event at 5 p.m. (EST).

Fegans, Galarza, Moritz, Solomon, Earwood and Walls close out the distance events for the weekend in the women’s 5K at 7:40 p.m. (EST). Braeden Collins, James Cragin, Zach Jaeger, Morris & Jake Shewbert will brace the men’s 5K right after the women.

The 4×400 squads end the night at 8:30 p.m. (EST) on Saturday to cap off ACC Outdoor Championships.