The men’s and women’s track and field teams competed on campus this weekend, hosting the Yellow Jacket Invitational at the George C. Griffen track. The event was cut short, however, as inclement weather moved into the area.
Fifteen collegiate teams were represented at the meet with teams coming from all across the southeast. The University of Michigan men’s team and the University of Connecticut’s women’s team also made the trip down to Atlanta for the Invitational.
“[Having the event here on campus] you get to sleep in your own bed the night before, and the situation is not as foreign since you are out [on the track] practicing everyday. So when you get out there, you are relaxed and you don’t have jet lag from traveling…It is just a lot easier to race well when you at home, and we always have great competition at every meet we host because we have such a fast track,” said junior middle distance runner E.C. Gibbs.
For the men, Gibbs picked up the third spot in the men’s 1500 meter, clocking in at 3:47.03. With that time, Gibbs was able to qualify for the NCAA Regional meet, which requires a 3:47.80 or under to qualify.
“It’s a great feeling [picking up the qualifying time]. A lot of pressure is off me because last year I did not qualify until the last chance meet, which is always very intense,” Gibbs said.
The men’s team as a whole also did well in the men’s 1500. Graduate student David Herren finished No. 5 with a time of 3:48.83 and senior Nazar Trilisky crossed the line No. 8 with a time of 3:55.58.
“Billy Mateker…paced us through 1000m with perfect pace and then dropped off and we kept going for 500 more meters, which really helps…Later, I just tucked behind David until I finished the race,” Gibbs said.
Mateker crossed the finish line in the No. 5 with a time of 1:54.37 in the men’s 800. Sophomore Tim Guglielmo finished No. 9 with a time of 1:56.88 in the same event.
Junior Nigel Orr finished second in the men’s long jump with his best jump measuring 7.23 meters, which came up only 3 centimeters short of the leader’s jump. Sophomore Steve Marcelle finished third in the men’s shot put with his best measuring 17.63 meters.
For the women, junior Shantia Moss won the women’s 100-meter hurdles, clocking in a time of 13.39 seconds. Senior Jenny Sims came in second in the women’s 1500, picking up a time of 4:32.48. Sims and freshman Amanda Montgomery finished third and sixth, respectively in the women’s 800 clocking in with times of 2:14.61 and 2:15.82.
Jeane Anderson finished No. 7 in the Women’s 100 with a time of 12.00 seconds. Senior Antoinetta McKay and freshman Taylor Davidson came in No. 12 and No. 16, respectively. Freshman Kayla McKeirnan was No. 9 in the women’s 400 with a time of 56.98 seconds.
In the women’s hammer throw, junior Kimery Hern finished third with her best throw going 57.42 meters. Sophomore Alana Clooten picked up the No. 5 spot with her highest throw of 55.17 meters.
The teams are currently competing at the Auburn Invitation in Auburn, Ala.
The teams return to Tech for the ACC Championships which will be held April 17-19 at Griffen Track.
“We were runner-ups at the [ACC Indoor Championships], which we have not done since 1988, so we want to do better or at least match it and crank out another good ACC meet,” Gibbs said.
Tech will host another event before the end of the regular season, with the Georgia Tech Invitational being the team’s third event in Atlanta this season.
The qualifying competitors will then travel to the NCAA Regions and the NCAA Championships the following weeks, held in Tallahassee, Fla. and Des Moines, Iowa, respectively.