Track & Field ACCtion: Weekend of February 1-2 :: Teams compete in near full slate of action.

Feb. 4, 2008

Carolina Classic, Chapel Hill, N.C. - Friday & Saturday, February 1-2

Carolina wrapped up day two of the Texas Roadhouse Carolina Classic on Saturday and picked up a pair of provisional marks from multi athletes Mateo Sossah and Daniel Keller as the pair reached the provisional mark in the heptathlon. Freshman Patience Coleman equaled her provisional mark from a week ago as she cleared 5-10 in the high jump once again.

Sossah and Keller finished the day with a bang as the duo finished in the top four of the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and the 1000. Sossah took the top spot in the heptathlon with 5,546 points as he finished first in the 60-meter hurdles, second in the pole vault and first in the 1,000 on Saturday. Keller shot to the top as he dominated the pole vault and finished the event with 5,329 points which also gives him an NCAA provisional mark.

In men's track action, Kelvin Hardesty finished 15th in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.09 as Clemson's C.J. Spiller broke a three-year facility record as he finished with a time of 6.58. Fellow freshman Charles Cox turned in another top three finish as he took third in the 200 when he crossed the line in 21.93 less than .20 seconds out of first place.

On the women's side, Patience Coleman equaled her best leap of the year in the high jump as she cleared 5-10 for the second week in a row to claim the women's high jump. Not far behind was Ashley Haislip who finished third as she cleared 5-6. In the pole vault, Alison McGinnis finished seventh as she jumped 11-1.75. The Tar Heels dominated the shot put invitational with Kimberly Warren taking the top spot with a toss of 45-4.25. Jocelyn White (45-1) and Norjai Palma (44-3.5) were not far behind as they finished second and fifth, respectively.

C.J. Spiller clocked a national-best 6.58 and won the 60m dash title at the Carolina Classic to pace the men's track & field team Saturday. Spiller's time ranks just ahead of the 6.59 run by professional sprinter Leonard Scott, also on Saturday. It was a personal best for the sophomore two-sport star.

Travis Padgett finished second in the 200m dash after clocking a season-best 21.91 in the event. Trenton Guy placed fourth (22.00), while Corey Brown (22.40) was ninth overall. Brown teamed with Cowin Mills, Andrew Porter, and Travis Swaggard in finishing third in the 4x400m relay (3:17.85).

April Sinkler won the second section of the long jump to lead Clemson's women's track & field team at the Carolina Classic on Saturday. The meet was held at the Eddie Smith Field House.

Sinkler had a jump of 19'3.5", while Patricia Mamona (18'3.25") was fifth in the invitational long jump. Sinkler won the collegiate division of the triple jump Friday, thus she took home first-place finishes in both horizontal jumps this weekend.

Polly Hardy finished in third place in Saturday's 60m hurdles final. She had a time of 8.52 in the final round, while Krystal Barringer (8.68) was sixth overall.

Duke Men & Women Schallmo Leads Duke At Carolina Classic

The Duke Blue Devils competed in the Texas Roadhouse Carolina Classic on Friday and Saturday at the Eddie Smith Field House at the University of North Carolina. Five competitors in field and multi-events led the way for Duke.

Women's: In the pentathlon on Friday, sophomore Karolina Haraldsdottir placed third out of 12 with a score of 3,126. She was just off the ECAC standard of 3,450. The pentathlon consists of the 60m hurdles, 800m, high jump, long jump and shot put.

Freshman Amy Fryt pole vaulted to the fifth-best mark in school history on Saturday morning at Chapel Hill. Her mark of 11'-7.75" placed her fourth was just short of the ECAC qualifying height of 11'-9.73."

Men's: On Friday night, sophomore Sid Palas equaled his personal best of 15'-5.0" in the pole vault, finishing third at the Carolina Classic. The IC4A standard is 15'-9.0."

The best performance of the weekend for the Blue Devils was sophomore Mike Schallmo in the shot put on Saturday morning. His sixth-place toss of 52'-4.75" was not only his personal best, but the third longest mark in school history. Schallmo qualified for the IC4A's for the second time in the shot put this season.

In the heptathlon for the Blue Devils on Friday and Saturday was freshman Matthew Hoyle. His score of 3,679 placed him eighth and was the third-best mark in the Duke records. The heptathlon consists of the 60m, 60m hurdles, 1000m, high jump, long jump, shot put and pole vault.

NC State Women

Angelina Blackmon won the mile at the Carolina Classic with a NCAA Provisional time of 4:47.50, more than two seconds faster than her previous career-best. Blackmon also won the 800 meters to pace the Pack women's track and field team. Colleen Wetherbee and Brittany Tinsley also finished in the top-10 in the mile, while DeMiracle Washington (long jump), Kara McKenna (3,000m) and Anne Wheatly (3,000m) had top-10 finishes, as well.

Wetherbee finished with a 5:01.74 in the mile, good for sixth, while Tinsley was ninth with a time of 5:10:27.

McKenna was fourth in the 3,000m with a 10:16.21 and Wheatly finished seventh with a 10:30.76.

NC State Men

The NC State men's track and field team got another typically strong performance from Dexter Adams as he won the long jump with the second-best mark in the ACC. The Wolfpack also found success in the shot put and 60 meter dash at the Carolina Classic. Jason Jones was second in the shot put with a career-best 57'02.25", the ninth-best mark in school history and the second-best in the ACC this season. A'Tolani Akinkuotu was second in the 60 meter dash and Eric Mack was fifth in the 800 meters.

Akinkuotu ran a 6.78 in the 60 meter dash to take second place with his second fastest time on the season. Akinkuotu is the only runner in Pack history to run a sub-6.80 in the event.

Reggie Reese was ninth with a 6.91 and Dexter Adams came in 13th with a time of 7.02, his fastest time of the season in the event.

Eric Mack finished fifth in the 800 meters with the seventh fastest time in the ACC, a 1:55.84. Geoff King finished 10th in the same event with a 1:57.11.

Rod McCravy Invitational, Lexington, Ky. - Friday & Saturday, February 1-2

Fatmata Fofanah won the women's 60-meter hurdles to lead the Georgia Tech track & field teams Saturday at the Rod McCravy Memorial in the Nutter Field House on the University of Kentucky campus.

Fofanah, a senior from The Bronx, N.Y., finished with an NCAA Championship provisional qualifying time of 8.17 in the finals of the 60m hurdles event. She finished .14 seconds ahead of her closest competitor.

On Friday evening, freshman Joanna Wright placed fourth in the pole vault with a season-best mark of 12 feet, 1 ½ inches. Junior Alana Clooten finished eighth in the weight throw with a mark of 55 feet, 1 ½ inches.

The men's squad was led by senior Derek Hoye, who finished fifth in the men's 800-meter run with an NCAA Championship provisional qualifying time of 1:50.47. Junior E.C. Gibbs placed seventh in the men's Bill Lee mile run with a personal-best time of 4:10.45.

Junior David Ford placed sixth in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 8.07. He was followed by sophomore Alphonso Jordan, who crossed the line seventh with a time of 8.11.

Another junior, Andy Powlen, placed fourth in the men's shot put with an NCAA Championship provisional and personal-best mark of 58 feet, 3 ¼ inches. Sophomore Steve Marcelle finished ninth with a mark of 56 feet, 2 inches.

Senior David Herren crossed the line fifth in the 3000-meter run with a season-best time of 8:21.92.

On Friday evening, sophomore Nigel Orr placed third in the triple jump with a mark of 48 feet, 8 ¾ inches.

Akron Open, Akron, Ohio - Friday & Saturday, February 1-2

The Wake Forest track team had a successful weekend at the Akron open, propelled by Kevin Marion, Nicole Schappert and Melissa Council who took top places in the Gold Division events and earned places in the WFU all-time top performances list.

In his first event of the 2008 indoor season, senior Kevin Marion registered the second longest jump in Wake Forest program history on Saturday with a mark of 7.35m. Marion, who recently wrapped up his final season as a starting wide receiver for the Demon Deacon football team, also ran a personal best in the 200m dash. His 21.83 mark was the eighth best finish in school history.

Junior Nicole Schappert's personal best time of 9:31.86 in the 3000m event was the eighth best mark in school history and good for second place in the Saturday race.

Melissa Council, who set a school record in the 55m dash at the Virginia Invitational earlier this season, set a personal best mark in the 400m dash with a mark of 55.25. The mark falls just behind of the school record 54.60, set in 2004 by Carol Merritt. Council's performance was the third WFU second place Gold Division finish of the day.

Senior Molly Kennedy was the lone Demon Deacon representative in the Pentathlon, where she came in third overall with a mark of 3558, including a fourth place finish in the shot put and long jump portions of the event with a third place finish 800 meter run.

Sophomore Caroline Vaughn placed second in the Blue Division 60m hurdles with a time of 8.71, bettering her top mark of 8.75 for the 2007 Indoor season and her most recent time of 8.90 at the Clemson Invitational on January 18

Nebraska Invitational, Lincoln, Neb. - Friday & Saturday, February 1-2

Florida State Men & Women

Two more Florida State men's track and field runners put their names down on the NCAA Indoor Championship provisional list to highlight two days of competition by both teams at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational.

Senior Drew Brunson (Snellville, Ga.) posted a pair of provisional times in the 60 meter hurdles. On Friday, he ran a 7.78 in the prelims, only to come back in Saturday's final and shave a hundredth off for a second-place, career-best time of 7.77 that is tied for the fourth-fastest in the NCAA.

Sophomore Charles Clark (Virginia Beach, Va.) moved up two spots in the finals of the 400-meter dash with his provisional and career-best time of 47.03 to take second place. Clark's time is the seventh-fastest in the country and tops in the ACC.

The women's team had several strong performances, particularly in the distance events. Headlining the two-day affair was junior Lydia Willemse (Forest, Ontario) as she won a pair of events. Her first victory came in the mile run where her winning 4:51.14 led the FSU contingency that took the first four spots. She was followed by Pilar McShine (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago) at 4:54.02, a 4:56.30 by Audrey Hand (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Kirsten Hagen (Blacksburg, Va.) with a 5:00.69.

Later in the afternoon, Williemse came back to win the 3000m run by three seconds with a top time of 9:39.03. Also cracking the top five of the event was McShine with a mark of 9:51.59. In the men's 3000m, sophomore Daniel Roberts (Vicksburg, Mich.) took second with a time of 8:12.96 while rookie Matt Leeder (Brookville, Ontario) was two spots back at 8:13.30. Rounding out the solid distance performances was senior Andrew Krumins (Melbourne, Australia) with a second-place time 2:25.32 in the 1000m run that set the Australian National Indoor Record in the event.

The 200m dash was very fruitful for both teams. Rookie Brittany St. Louis (Arima, Trinidad & Tobago) ran a 24.15 in the finals of the women's meet for a third-place finish. Classmate Brandon Byram (Gallatin, Tenn.) was third in the prelims then took fifth in the finals with a time of 21.49. Also posting a top-five finish in the sprints was Keyla Smith (Daytona Beach, Fla.) as she crossed the line in 55.36 in the 400m dash.

Thompson Invitational, Newark, Del. - Saturday, February 2

Maryland Men & Women

Earl Gray posted two first-place finishes and Maryland finished with five overall on the day at the University of Delaware's Thomson Invitational yesterday.

Gray placed first in the 60 meters with a time of 6.98 and in the 200 meters, running a 22.22.

On the women's side, Maryland swept the top-three spots in the long jump, with Toni Aluko, Ashley Carbray and Tiffani Long placing first, second and third respectively. Aluko jumped for 19-06.25, Carbray for 17-10.25 and Long for 17-09.00.

Katelyn Poss posted a first-place finish in the weight throw with a mark of 53-01.50. Teammate Kristen Batts placed fourth in the same event with a throw of 49-08.25.

In the shot put, Ashley Williams posted a mark of 44-08.00 to place first and Christina Smith placed sixth with a mark of 38-02.75.

In the men's shot put, Sal Delhierro had a throw of 52-08.75, which was good for a second-place finish. He also competed in the weight throw and placed fifth with a mark of 54-01.00.

The women finished third overall with 92.50 points, behind Delaware (137.50) and Temple (133.50). The men finished eighth overall with 32 points, behind first-place finishing Temple (149.50), Monmouth (129) and Delaware State (96).

Beanpot, Boston, Mass. - Saturday, February 2

Boston College Men & Women

The Boston College women's indoor track teams took home the Battle of Beantown crown while the men placed third at Harvard's Gordon Track Saturday, Feb. 3.

The women had six top performances in the meet. Highlighting the days event was freshman Caroline King, who ran an NCAA provisional time of 4:45.30 in the one-mile run. Her time marks the fastest in the ACC this season and places her fourth on BC's all-time top performance list. Sophomore Jessica Driscoll, who placed right behind King, also clocked a provisional NCAA qualifying time of 4:48.11

The other top performers were senior Alison Fogarty in the 400-meter (57.49), sophomore Caitlin Bailey in the 500-meter (1:14.06), sophomore Samantha Gawrych in the 800-meter (2:11.75) and senior Mary Heitkamp in the 1,000-meter (2:51.92). The 4x400 and 4x800 relay squads placed first as well with times of 3:52.05 and 9:08.78 respectively.

The men finished the meet with four top performances. Senior Josh Springer clocked a 2:29.45 in the 1,000-meter. Junior James LaGreca topped the one-mile in 4:15.58. Freshman Mark Domaracki ran a 49.52 in the 400-meter. The men's 4x800 relay team took top honors with a time of 8:01.12 to wrap up the Eagles best times.

Virginia at St. Christopher's Track Clash, Richmond, Va. - Saturday, February 2

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