THE FLATS – The Georgia Tech men’s and women’s track and field teams earned multiple podium finishes and conference marks on the final day of the Georgia Tech Invitational.
Junior jumper Kendall Ward returned to form with a 1.76m high jump last weekend in Athens and was ready to shine at home. She cleared the 1.67m and 1.72m jumps with ease on her first attempts before landing the 1.75m mark on her third and final try. She faced the 1.78m mark and on her second attempt she cleared the bar and crashed down onto the cushion to win the event.
She was the only jumper in the event to clear the bar on the day and secured her third overall event of the season, second this spring. 1.78m is her highest jump since her 1.79m performance at the NCAA East First Round last season. The junior now holds a tie for second in the ACC and now resides in the top-50 nationally.
Aaron Jones continued his lightning-fast campaign in the 400m hurdles with his first career time under the 52-second mark at 51.91. He went nearly a tenth faster than his personal best set in Athens and strengthened his hold on the seventh-fastest time this spring.
Senior Omar Arnaout competed in his final home meet as a Yellow Jacket and cleared the 2.00m mark outdoors for the first time in 2026. He jumped over the bar at 2.01m and secured his first ACC Standard mark of the campaign. Junior runner Caden Terrell ran 47.01 in the 400m for his first standard time and his career best outdoor time.
In the women’s 400m hurdles, Sarah Noel raced back under the minute mark at 59.72 for the second time in the last three weeks. Noel has reached the standard mark in three consecutive appearances. Jumper Adaora Tagbo reached 12.50m once again at 12.51m to place second in the triple jump event; she now has recorded back-to-back 12.50m+ jumps after her 12.56m attempt in Athens.
The 800m races saw multiple Jackets show out at home. Lottie Chappell led the women at 2:08.04 to notch a third place finish with Stella Chambless and senior Gracie Marston behind. Freshman Sophie D’Elena was full second faster at 2:16.10 for her personal best.
Alexander Arrambide sprinted home at 1:50.46, just 0.23 seconds off the winning time to finish as the runner-up after placing second in the Yellow Jacket Invitational last month. Cooper Timberman finished at 1:51.93 for his first career time under 1:52 to close out the day.
Georgia Tech will make the journey up to Philadelphia for the 130th running of the Penn Relays from April 23-25. Tech will also be competing in the Tiger Track Classic next Saturday from the campus of Auburn.
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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