Women’s Track & Field Heads off to Atlanta for ACC Championships

April 16, 2008

Clemson, SC – Twenty-eight members of the women’s track & field team will make the short trip to Atlanta, GA this week to compete at the ACC Outdoor Championships, held Thursday through Saturday at the George C. Griffin Track Complex. ACC Select will broadcast a recap of each day’s action at 9:00 PM.

The Lady Tigers are hoping for an improvement on their eighth-place finish from the 2007 league meet. Clemson has four East Region meet qualifiers so far this season, including two in the javelin throw. Several others are on the verge of surpassing the regional qualifying standard in various events.

The action gets underway Thursday with the hammer throw at 12:00 noon. Rochelle Kokayko is entered for Clemson. The heptathlon, which will conclude Friday, begins at 12:30 PM on Thursday. Liane Weber, runner-up in the heptathlon with a school record last season, will compete alongside Linda Buchholz. The pole vault (2:00), javelin (6:00), and 10,000m (7:45) will also be held Thursday. Buchholz is the school record-holder in the javelin and was All-ACC in the event last season. Caroline Kennedy ranks third on the ACC performance charts in the pole vault, while Sunday Ford will compete as Clemson’s lone entry in the 10K race.

The conclusion of the heptathlon will be Clemson’s first action on day two, beginning at 11 AM. The preliminary round for most running events will be held Friday afternoon. Polly Hardy leads a group of three in the high hurdles at 3:10 PM. She is a regional qualifier in the event. Other featured running prelims Friday include the 100m, 200m, 800m, and 400m hurdles. Lisa Brown and Stephanie Buffo will compete in Friday night’s steeplechase at 6:25 PM to close out the track action. In the field, the long jump and high jump competitions will be held at 3:30. Patricia Mamona was All-ACC indoors in the long jump.

The running finals will be held Saturday. The first event of the day, however, will be the discus at 1:00 PM. The 4x100m relay event will start the action on the track Saturday at 1:15. The final for the 100m hurdles will be at 2:05, with the other events following throughout the afternoon. Jenna Baker, a standout freshman distance runner, will run the 5000m at 4:00 PM Saturday as well. The action will conclude with the 4x400m relay at 4:45.

Mamona should be considered among the favorites for Saturday afternoon’s triple jump. She ranks second in school history in the event and was runner-up last outdoor season and at the ACC indoor meet in February. She will be joined by freshman April Sinkler and sophomore Nakeisha Wineglass in the event.