ATLANTA (April 6) – In their final tuneup before the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, the Georgia Tech track teams compete at the Duke Invitational Friday and Saturday at Duke’s Wallace Wade Stadium, which will also be the site of the ACC and NCAA Championships. Competition runs Friday from 2 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. and Saturday from 8:30 a.m. until 6 p.m.
“This is a high quality meet, and more importantly, it gives us a chance to compete at the facility that will hold the ACC and national championship meets,” said Tech men’s head coach Grover Hinsdale. “We’re looking for some very good individual performances as we build toward the ACC’s.”
Women’s head coach Alan Drosky said, “This will be our last meet prior to the conference championships so we’re looking for a very competitive meet with most of the ACC schools there.”
Sophomore Bryan Swarn (Englewood, Colo.) in the 400 meters and freshman Brendon Mahoney (Cumming, Ga.) in the 800 meters continue to shine for the Tech men as both won their races last weekend at the Clemson Invitational. Swarn has run the top two 400-meter times in the ACC this season, including a season-best 46.07, while Mahoney’s 1:48.42 is the ACC’s season-best performance in the 800 meters. Both have provisionally qualified for the NCAA’s in their respective events.
Senior Giovanni Pipia (Acworth, Ga.) is coming off a personal best time of 9:08.72 in the steeplechase, and sophomore Aaron Sink (Raleigh, N.C.) showed improvement with a 51.99 in the 400 hurdles.
Junior high jumper Clayton Porter (Chesapeake, Va.), senior triple jumper Malcolm Leason (Wilmington, Del.), and senior Michael Johnson (Littleton, Colo.) in the 400 meters are looking to round into top form.
Senior Becky Megesi (Jonesboro, Ga.) has been the standout for the women’s team. She was the top collegian in the 800 meters last weekend with a time of 2:09.17, but this week she returns to her specialty, the 1,500 meters, in which she is a two-time outdoor conference champion.
Other top performers for the women’s team include sophomore Sara Pardue (Aurora, Colo.) and junior Nicole Campbell (Ventura, Calif.) in the 800 meters, senior Ayana Grant (Oakland, Calif.) in the hurdles, sophomore Mishanta Reyes (Bronx, N.Y.) in the long jump and freshman Jessica DeFreitas (Lanham, Md.) in the 100 and 200 meters.
