April 19, 2018
2018 Georgia Tech Meet Central
THE FLATS – Georgia Tech outdoor track and field prepares to host its second meet of the 2018 season, the Georgia Tech Invitational on April 20-21. Friday’s action begins at 11 a.m. with the hammer throw and the remaining events at 6 p.m. Saturday will begin at 11 a.m.
The Yellow Jackets will more than 30 schools on Friday and Saturday, including ACC foes Boston College and Florida State, as well as Southern Miss, St. John’s and Georgia State.
Tech is coming off a strong weekend in Alabama at the Tiger Track Classic. Ksenia Novikova impressed in the pole vault, tying her personal record in the pole vault to take gold with a clearance of 4.10 meters – good for her first top-10 ACC mark this season. Hailey Gollnick then raced to a gold finish in the 3000m steeplechase, turning in a season-best and top-5 conference time of 10:35.94.
The Jackets also saw a fine day from Amy Ruiz, who turned in a 4:24.00 PR to finish third in the ultra-competitive 1500m invitational heat – ranking in the top 5 of the ACC. Marinice Bauman then continued her impressive outdoor season by finishing third in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:00.55.
Avery Bartlett led the way for the men’s team last weekend, taking first place in the competitive 1500m invitational meet. Bartlett turned in a career-best time, and second fastest time in the ACC this season, of 3:43.45 in the effort – shaving more than a full second off his previous record. Alex Grady followed up Bartlett with another first-place finish for the Yellow Jackets in the 3000m steeplechase, winning by almost eight seconds at 9:09.57 – good for a top-5 conference time.
Andres Littig then led Tech by turning in a second-place time of 1:50.24 in the 800m before Daniel Pietsch continued his breakout season by finishing fourth overall in the 400m with a time of 47.40 for another top-10 ACC time. Finishing out the weekend for Tech was sophomore Matt McBrien who obliterated his previous personal best in the 5K, taking fourth overall with a time of 14:54.78. Right behind McBrien was Mitchell Sanders, who recorded a fifth-place time of 15:01.36.
William Solomon also had an impressive night, turning in a season-best performance in the long jump by leaping to a mark of 7.50 meters – just 0.05 meters off his personal record and good for sixth-longest in the ACC this season.
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