ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech men and women’s track and field teams turned in a number of solid performances on Saturday at the Florida Invitational. The meet was held at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla.
The Yellow Jackets’ women’s team had another strong meet as it recorded 11 top-10 performances on the day, including a pair of top-five showings. Sophomore Jamie Ostrov turned in the top performance of the day, as she placed third in the high jump with a height of 5′ 6.00″. Ostrov was joined in the top ten of the event by fellow second-year performers Julie Conlon and Jennifer Ledbetter, who finished in seventh and ninth respectively with matching jumps of 5′ 4.25″.
Sophomore Amy Dock had Tech’s other top-five finish of the day as she placed fourth in the 3,000 meters with her personal season-best time of 9:53.49. In the other distance competition, senior Tina Frey led four Jackets in the top 10 of the 5,000-meter event as she placed sixth with her season-best time of 18:08.81. Junior Amy Edwards followed Frey in the event in seventh with a time of 18:11.00, Rachael Caruso in ninth in a time of 18:32.77, and freshman Betsy Bulat in 10th with a time of 18:36.76.
The Jackets’ final two top-10 finishes came in the long jump as both Jessica DeFreitas and Mishanta Reyes ranked among the top 10 performers in that event. DeFreitas finished eighth with her own season-best jump of 19′ 6.00″ and Reyes was ninth with a leap of 19′ 4.25″.
On the men’s side, freshman continued to impress early in his career at Tech as he finished fourth in the long jump with a height of 6′ 9.00″. Sophomore Keith Schuler who also placed in the top 10 with a height of 6′ 7.00″, which was good for eighth place, followed him in the event.
In the 400 meters, Tech junior Bryan Swarn recorded a top-10 finish, as he placed 10th with a time of 48.06, which was the fastest time by a Yellow Jacket this year in that event. Sophomore Sharif Azim was 18th in the 400 meters with a time of 48.95.
Senior Clayton Porter was another top-10 performer for the Jackets, as he finished 10th in the long jump with a distance of 23′ 2.00″. Rounding out Tech’s top finishers at the meet was the Jackets’ 4×400-meter relay team, which placed 10th with a time of 3:17.28. That time in the 4×400 was the Jackets’ fastest of the indoor season.
Tech will return to action next weekend by competing in either the Valentine Invitational in Blacksburg, Va., or at the Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa.
