May 15, 2010
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech women and men’s track and field team’s competed in their final home meet of the season on Saturday afternoon at Griffin Track, finishing off action at the 2010 Georgia Tech Invitational.
“I just want to start off with the number of personal bests our guys ran,” men’s head coach Grover Hinsdale said. “They were really into it and the atmosphere around this track was incredible. 90 schools were represented here and the crowds we had were just fantastic. The weather turned out way better than we anticipated, as well.
“It was just a great weekend of track on this facility and I couldn’t be prouder of the effort our guys put forth this weekend. I think we’ll a solid group going to the NCAA East Regional in two weeks and we have full expectations of them competing as hard as they did today.”
“We had a great two days of competition, the weather cooperated, and our women showed they are rounding into post-season shape,” women’s head coach Alan Drosky said. “Many personal and seasonal bests were achieved. After this weekend we’ll be able to see where we stand in the NCAA East Regional, and we’ll continue to point for that meet.”
On the women’s side, junior Joanna Wright registered the first solid finish of the afternoon for the Jackets in the pole vault. Her clearance of 12 feet, 1.50 inches placed her in a tie for fourth in the event. In Saturday’s other women’s field events, Terri-Anne Grant finished seventh overall in the high jump with a mark of five feet, 8.75 inches, while in the discus, sophomore Bailey Wagner finished off her weekend with a third place finish overall after posting a mark of 157 feet, nine inches.
In track events, Tiffany Grant had an impressive ninth place finish in the 400m dash after crossing the finish line in 54.60. In the 400m hurdles, Leslie Njoku also registered a top-ten finish in the 400m hurdles in eighth overall with a time of 58.11. The time was also a personal-best for Njoku.
On the men’s side, senior Alphonso Jordan competed for the last time at Griffin Track in his illustrious career, finishing fourth in the triple jump with a final mark 52 feet, 0.50 inches. Last night, Jordan finished fifth in the long jump, posting a mark of 24 feet, one inch.
In track events, Joseph Stowe posted a new personal-best with a time of 1:55.74 in the 800m run, while Mike Lawson (1:53.98) and Ryan Gomba (1:54.01) also set new personal-best marks in the event. In the 400m dash, junior Antonio McKay Jr. was his section of the race with a time of 47.03 and finished 17th overall, while Hunter Clasen place d 22nd in 47.38, which was a new personal best. In the final individual track event of the weekend, the 200m dash, Tech’s Joe DiDia (22.10) and Michael Simms (22.21) set new personal bests.
The final event of the weekend was the men’s 4x400m relay, in which the team of Clasen, McKay Jr., Subbu Sivanesan and Jay Oatts finished in 3:10.84, which was the second best mark in their heat and the seventh best mark overall in the event.
The Georgia Tech men’s and women’s track & field teams now set their sights on the 2010 NCAA East Regional Meet, which will take place from Thursday, May 27th to Saturday, May 29th in Greensboro, N.C. The event is hosted by North Carolina A&T University
