THE FLATS – Georgia Tech track & field jumped into the indoor season at the Clemson Opener, coming away with five podium places.
High jumper Shanty Papakosta soared above her competition at the meet as the only women’s high jumper to successfully propel herself over the highest bar (1.76m). She was also the only high jumper to complete every jump with no misses to take home the top finish.
In her first collegiate race, Riley Perlakowski smoked the competition in the 1000m finishing 7.07 seconds ahead of the second place finisher with a time of 2:56.18.
“I was super excited to be able to race this early in the season and was confident in my training,” Perlakowski said. “It feels great to win my first collegiate race! I had the best team cheering me on.”
The remaining three podium places come by way of a trio of second place finishes by McKinley Thompson, Taylor Grimes, and Haley Unthank.
Thompson started the day with a second place finish in the men’s high jump clearing 1.98m. No other jumper at the meet was able to clear the 1.98m bar.
On the track, two women took home second place finishes. Grimes clocked in at 8.36 seconds in the 60 hurdles finals after turning in a time of 8.40 seconds in the 60 hurdles prelims. Unthank was the final podium placer for Tech running a time of 1:35.11 in the 600 meter run, good for second place overall and first in her heat.
“It was great to get the indoor season going. Today’s competition gives us a chance to see where we are after the fall conditioning period and before we get started with exams. We were pleased with the efforts across the board and impressed with a good number of the performances. Now we need to maintain our fitness through the finish of the fall semester and the holiday break. If we can do that, we have a chance to do some outstanding things when we get back going with competition in January,” Head Women’s Track & Field Coach Alan Drosky said.
Other top five finishers for Tech on the day include, Ilene Soleyn (600 meter run, fourth, 1:36.17), Harrison Fultz (600 meter run, fourth, 1:23.04), Grimes (long jump, fourth, 5.89m), Jill Catton (200 dash, fifth, 24.98).
The next meet for the Jackets is on Saturday, Dec. 4 at the Boston Indoor Opener.
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
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