Nov. 30, 2012
Meet Schedule | Live Results | Meet Program
THE FLATS – The Georgia Tech track and field team will open the 2012-13 indoor season at the Orange & Purple Winter Classic on Saturday hosted by Clemson at the Clemson Indoor Track and Field Complex. The competition features 15 teams and action begins at 10 a.m. with the men’s pentathlon.
The Yellow Jackets began last year’s indoor season at the same meet with some success. Veteran pole vaulter Aaron Unterberger took home a first-place finish with a vault of 16’¾ and Erica Penk claimed first place among college competitors in the women’s pole vault (12’5½).
With the 2012 men’s cross country team coming of its best finish at the NCAA South Regionals since 2001 (fourth-place), the Yellow Jackets look to keep the success rolling into the indoor opener this weekend. The meet will also serve as a way for the Tech coaches to gage their student-athletes’ development before the bulk of the indoor meets begin in January.
“This is not a meet that we put an enormous amount of emphasis on.” Head men’s track coach Grover Hinsdale said. “We use it for a variety of reasons. One reason is to see where some of the individuals are at this time in their development and conditioning. Some we just want to take a look at and come up with a game plan of how we want them to approach the event. It may not even be their main event.
“There will be a game plan involved in how they go about that and it will be a conditioning type effort for them. We have so many younger student-athletes that we just want to get a gage on too.”
The men’s team is especially young. Although the 44-man roster includes 14 seniors, it also features 14 sophomores and 12 freshmen. The women’s squad is also brimming with young talent with eight freshmen and 16 sophomores making up over half of the roster.
The Tech men return All-ACC performer and school record holder sophomore pole vaulter Nikita Kirillov, along with senior sprinter and 60-meter school record holder Perron Jones. Shawn Roberts also returns for his senior season after making his first NCAA Championship appearance last season in the 800 meters.
Second-team All-America honoree Julienne McKee will begin her junior season this weekend. Last season, McKee not only qualified for the NCAA Championships in the long and triple jumps, but set a new school record in the long jump while there.
Sophomore Katie Townsend also returns for Tech after having a successful 2012 cross country season. Townsend finished first for Tech in every meet this past season.
Live results for Saturday’s meet are available on www.timinginc.com.
