March 23, 2018
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Georgia Tech outdoor track and field wrapped up the Florida State Relays on Friday evening, turning in nine PRs and getting 16 top-5 finishes on the day.
In team score, the men’s team finished fifth with 81 points overall while the women’s team finished seventh with 54.
“Across the board, I just thought we looked flat and lethargic today,” head men’s coach Grover Hinsdale. “The only bright spot to me was Avery Bartlett’s performance in the 1500m, which was about a two-second PR. We are a much better team than the one that showed up today. We need to put this meet behind us and, on Monday, start preparing for next weekend’s Florida Relays.”
“We had a solid meet but not quite what we were looking for overall,” head women’s coach Alan Drosky said. “A lot of people ran off events for them this weekend and we’ve currently got some people nursing injuries. But we still got some good things done with a win in the 400m hurdles, a nice improvement in the 4x100m relay, and a number a solid personal bests in the 1500m.”
The Yellow Jackets return to Florida next week when they head to Gainesville for the Florida Relays. The three-day meet begins Thursday, March 29 and ends Saturday, March 31.
Men’s Highlights
Georgia Tech was led on the day by Avery Bartlett who turned in a career performance in the 1500m, taking gold with the second-fastest time in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season, 3:44.95.
In the 800m, Andres Littig finished second overall, but first among student-athletes with a time of 1:49.98 – the fastest time in the ACC thus far. John Lyons also tacked on a top-10 finish for Tech with a seventh-place time of 1:53.35.
Representing Tech in the triple jump, Ryan Thomas and Preston Smith performed well, finishing second and third overall, respectively. Thomas turned in a leap of 14.96 while Smith once again pushed out his career-best mark, leaping to a distance of 15.52 meters.
Benjamin Jean (47.63) and Ty Brooks (47.78) led the pack of attached runners, finishing first and second among them, respectively. Overall in the race, the two Jackets finished third and fourth. Isaac Penman obliterated his pervious PR in the 2000 steeplechase that was set just last week, finishing fifth in the event with a time of 6:16.29.
In the second hurdles event of the day, the 400m, freshman Anthony Steets finished seventh overall with a time of 57.04.
Then in the 100m, Maurice Simpson edged out his old personal record, running a 10.73, only being edged by 0.02 by Tyson Spears who finished seventh overall. Simpson and Spears’ time ranks sixth in the ACC. Andreas Ward added another top-10 finish to his season, finishing ninth in the 110m hurdles with a time of 14.48.
In the relays, Thomas, Spears, Simpson and Ward finished fifth in the 4×100, turning in a time of 41.28. Then in the 4×400 to close out the day, Brooks, Lionel Jones, Daniel Pietsch and Jean finished fourth with a season-best time of 3:11.55.
Women’s Highlights
Marinice Bauman led the way for the Yellow Jackets by taking gold in the 400m hurdles. She turned in a time of 1:00.22 to edge just slightly her previous season-best and improve to third-fastest in the conference. Shannon Innis also turned in a season-best time of 1:03.31 to finish fifth for Tech – also good for sixth-fastest in the ACC.
Kenya Collins (13.56) led in the 100m hurdles with a third-place finish before Raven Stewart finished fifth in the hurdles with a 13.67. Collins’ performance is the fourth-fastest time in the ACC. Bauman then continued her strong day by turning in a season-best 14.21 to finish eighth.
In the relays, Brianna Hayden,Jeanine Williams, Collins and Raven Stewart finished second in the 4×100, running a time of 45.07 – good for fourth-fastest in the league. The 4×400 team of Bauman, Denise Woode, Innis and Domonique Hall then placed fourth overall with a time of 3:45.80.
In the 1500m, Amy Ruiz finished fourth on the day with a time of 4:28.13, before freshman Nicole Fegans finished just outside the top-10 (11th) with a time of 4:31.95. Ruiz and Fegans’ times rank third and seventh in the ACC while Hana Herndon’s time of 4:33.94 also ranks ninth.
Woode then turned in the eighth-best leap in the conference when she finished fifth in the triple jump, leaping to a distance of 11.06 meters.
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