Jan. 28, 2012
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Georgia Tech men’s and women’s track and field teams finished with 22 top-10 finishes at the two-day Rod McCravy Invitational on the campus of the University Kentucky. Mykhail Chambers highlighted the meet with his first place finish in the high jump.
Chambers leapt 2.04 meters (6-8.25) for the victory while teammate Brandon Mbaba took home third with a height of 1.99 meters.
The Jacket field athletes kept the success going as Julienne McKee took home a top-three finish in the long jump for the second straight weekend, this time with a second place, 5.97m (19-7) launch. McKee also finished in the runner up slot in the triple jump with a leap of 12.46 meters (40-10.5) while Jhanelle McLeod took home eighth place with a distance of 11.82 meters (38-9.5).
On the men’s side, Jonathan Gardner came away with a fifth place finish in the triple jump leaping 15.23 meters (49-11.75) while Omar Morrison placed 13th with a distance of 13.01 meters (42-8.25).
Rounding out the field success were pole vaulters Aaron Unterberger and Nikita Kirillov who took fourth and fifth place respectively with heights of 5.02 meters (16-5.5).
On the track, Perron Jones shone once again in the 60 meter dash where he finished seventh overall with a time of 6.84 seconds. Teammate Michael Simms also found himself in the finals of the 60 meter dash where he placed 14th with a time of 7.02 seconds.
Women’s sprinter Stephanie Kalu raced out to a fourth place 60 meter dash finish with a time of7.52 seconds. Kalu also led the pack of Jackets in the 200 meter dash coming across in ninth place in a time of 24.86 seconds. Kalu was followed by Jamilah Middlebrooks who took 13th with a time of25.11, Jhanelle McCleod who took 16th (25.28) and Christina Pensock who rounded out the top-20 with a 19th place 25.38 second finish.
Jones and Simms also did well in the 200 meter dash as the former cracked the podium with a third place, 21.81 second finish while the latter took ninth in a time of 22.40.
Tech’s distance runners also did well on the day. Rick Scheff led things in the 800 meter run with a fifth place, 1:51.83 second finish while the milers went 4-5-6 as Alec Clifford (4:10.04), Jeremy Greenwald (4:10.13), and Eric Powers (4:10.82) finished one behind the other in the race.
Maureen McMeekin also cracked the top-10 in the mile with an eighth place, 4:59.07 second finish.
Tech’s hurdlers continued their success as both Glenn Powell and Paul DeVito made their way into the finals finishing with a ninth place, 8.27 second and 11th place 8.38 second finish respectively. On the women’s side, Melanie Akwule and Leslie Njoku each made their way into the finals with Akwule taking home 10th place with a time of 8.61 seconds.
The Jackets will be back in action next weekend at the Virginia Tech Elite Meet on February 3 and 4 in Blacksburg, Va.
