Feb. 14, 2002
ATLANTA – With their sights set on the school’s first-ever Atlantic Coast Conference title, the Georgia Tech men and women’s track and field teams are ready for the 2002 ACC Indoor Championships, which begin Friday at Eddie Smith Field House in Chapel Hill, N.C.
The Jackets have enjoyed a successful indoor season thus far, as several Tech student-athletes rank near the top of the ACC Indoor Track & Field Top Times List and four have set school records.
Leading the way on the men’s side will be junior Brendon Mahoney, who tops the conference list in the mile by nearly eight seconds with a time of 4:02.58. He also ranks second in the 800 meters, clocking a season-best time of 1:51.22.
“We ask a lot of Brendon Mahoney, and he’s up to the challenge,” says men’s head coach Grover Hinsdale. “Right now he’s leading the ACC rankings in the mile and is second in the 800, and he’ll run both there.”
Classmate and team captain Bryan Swarn owns the league’s top mark in the 400 meters, entering the meet with a time of 47.55. He is followed closely by freshman Brian Ford, who ranks second with a mark of 47.64. These two will also pair with junior Sharif Azim and senior Aaron Sink to run the 4×400 relay.
“This is one of the best 400 meters groups in the history of the ACC,” adds Hinsdale. “Bryan has a big challenge ahead of him, but he is physically and mentally ready for that challenge.”
Big things will also be expected of Tech’s group of throwers, led by freshman Zeb Sion, who ranks second in the ACC in the shot put with a toss of 56’4.50″. Teammate Jonathan Spillman ranks fifth, and freshman Ian Brewer established the school record in the weight throw earlier this season.
Junior Chris Crawley enters the meet ranked third in the long jump (24’03.00″) and fourth in the triple jump (48’01.25″).
“It comes down to your team’s health and your last couple of weeks of training,” says Hinsdale. “We are very healthy and we are excited about getting up there and having a big showing.”
As for the women, junior Jamie Ostrov leads the conference with a NCAA provisional mark of 5’09.75″ in the high jump, and senior Mishanta Reyes is the defending champion in the long jump. She enters the meet with the league’s fifth-best mark this season, and ranks third in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.65.
Distance standouts Renee Metivier and Amy Dock are expected to perform well in the 3000 and 5000 meters. Metivier ranks third in the 3000 meters with a school record and NCAA provisional time of 9:28.79, while Dock stands second in the 5000 with a time of 17:06.15. She established the school record in that event a year ago.
Throwers Dana Hall and Angela Levens enter the meet having already posted school records this season. Hall ranks fourth in the shot put with a school record mark of 48’04.00″, while Levens is fourth in the weight throw with a NCAA provisional mark and school record toss of 60’11.50.”
Senior Sara Pardue enters the meet ranked third in the 800 meters, posting a time of 2:11.91, and Amandi Rhett and Jessica DeFreitas rank fourth and seventh, respectively, in the 60 meters.
“By and large, the women are doing the kinds of things we expected leading up to the conference meet,” says women’s head coach Alan Drosky. “We’ve got kids doing well in virtually every event. We have every expectation of going up there and being in the thick of things. There are a number of good teams, and we’re one of them.”
“If we do what we’re capable of doing, it ought to be an exciting championship. For us to win, we’ll need to be hitting on all cylinders, and that’s what we’ve been training for.”
The meet opens Friday at 10 a.m. with the women’s weight throw, and the opening day concludes with the distance medley relay that evening. Action on Saturday begins at 10 a.m. with the men’s weight throw and wraps up with the 4×400 relay.
Top three finishers in each individual event earn all-conference accolades, as do the members of winning relays.
Tech’s top mark on the men’s side was a second-place finish in 1988, while the Yellow Jacket women have finished third three times in the last four years, including 2001. The men, who were plagued by injuries a year ago, finished eighth last time out.
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