June 11, 2001
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech women’s track and field team has signed four student-athletes as part of the class of 2005, Yellow Jacket head coach Alan Drosky announced today. Although a small class, it will be one with a great deal of talent as the group includes the top high school heptathlon competitor in the nation along with one of the top prep triple jumpers in the United States.
“We’re thrilled to have signed these four athletes for the class of 2005,” said Tech head coach Alan Drosky. “All four of them will be able to help us immediately at the conference level and we feel that some of them will also make an impact nationally right away as well.”
Lauren Reimer headlines the class as she recorded the second-best score in the heptathlon ever by a high school athlete. The New Braunfels, Texas, native turned in a score of 5357 on May 24-26 at the Great Southwest Classic, which not only won the meet and is the top score in the nation this year, but also puts her second in the high school record books in the event. Reimer will look to not only break the record later this summer, but also to keep it in the family, as her sister Kendra is the current record holder with her mark of 5493.
“Lauren is very versatile and can compete in individual events along with the heptathlon at the ACC meet,” added Drosky. “A score of 4700 won the ACC meet last year, and Lauren has shown she can be at that level right away. She qualified for the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, high jump and the long jump at the Texas state meet, and can score in all of those at the ACCs. Her score in the heptathlon would have qualified for the NCAAs as well.”
Joining Reimer with a focus in the field events will be Shanta Smith, a native of Miami, Fla. Smith won the Florida state championship in the triple jump in 2001 with a leap of 41-7.25, which also ranks fifth in the country this year. Smith finished second in Florida in the 400 meters with her time of 55.04 seconds, and she holds a personal best of 5-6 in the high jump.
The third member of the class, who will compete primarily in the horizontal jump event area, is local product Dana Rogers. Rogers, a native East Point, Ga., and St. Pius X High School, won the Georgia 4A State Championship in both the long jump and the triple jump in 2001 with her distances of 19-1 and 38-11 respectively. Her 19-1 mark in the long jump was the best in the state this past spring.
Rounding out this spring’s signees is Katie deVaux of Fort Walton Beach, Fla. DeVaux, who attended Ft. Walton Beach High School will be a middle to long-distance specialist for the Jackets, as she holds a personal best of 5:02.00 in the 1600 meters and a mark of 18:20 in cross country competition. Her time in cross country this past fall placed her third at the Florida state meet.
“This obviously is not a big class, but we didn’t lose many people last year as we were a very young team,” said Drosky. “I think we’re getting great quality and versatility in small numbers. These are the type of student-athletes that we want to keep getting here at Georgia Tech, as they give us so much versatility in the number of event areas that they can compete in.”
