Clemson Women 8th, Men 11th at ACC Indoor Track & Field Championships

CLEMSON, SC – Behind 19 points from sophomore jumper Mimi Land, Clemson’s women placed eighth as its bid for a ninth consecutive conference title fell short at the ACC Indoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday at the school’s indoor track complex. Clemson, who won four straight indoor and outdoor ACC crowns from 2010-13, posted 45 points as Florida State won both the men’s and women’s titles. Clemson’s men finished 11th with 23 points.

The men’s competition came down to the final event, where the Seminoles did enough to win with 96 total points over North Carolina (89) and Notre Dame (84), who did not finish after entering the event trailing by only six. The women’s race was not as close, with FSU scoring 96.5 to Duke’s 83 and Notre Dame’s 65.

Clemson Head Coach Mark Elliott: “While our positions aren’t what Clemson is used to, I’m a realistic coach. We did what we were supposed to do. We could have been sixth in the women’s race, and it came down to the triple jump. Mimi Land carried this team, but there are kids on this team that can help carry us in the future. We substituted someone on our 4×4 that never runs on it, but that’s just part of it. Tevin Hester has led our men’s team, but there is some support there. The kids know where we stand, and we just have to get better outdoors.”

Clemson’s All-ACC PerformersWhitney Fountain, 60 dashTevin Hester, 60 dashMimi Land, high jump & triple jumpTorian Ware, high jump

Saturday Finals • Mimi Land earned her second All-ACC award of the weekend Saturday, a silver medal in the triple jump. Land contributed 19 of Clemson’s 45 team points. • Land led the competition throughout, only to see Maryland’s Thea LaFond take control on the final attempt. Land posted a personal best 42’9.5″, the No. 5 mark in Clemson history. • Tevin Hester came agonizingly close to winning gold in the men’s 60. He was the silver medalist by two one-thousandths of a second to Florida State’s Dentarius Locke. He ran 6.624, while Locke nudged ahead at 6.622. • Hester’s All-ACC accolade was the fourth of his career. • Reggie Lewis scored in both short sprints, taking fourth in the 60 and seventh in the 200. • Whitney Fountain grabbed her fifth career All-ACC honor, her first in something other than the pentathlon or heptathlon. She won bronze in the 60 dash and took fourth in the 200. • Fountain’s 7.44 in the 60 final was a personal best, the ninth-best time in school history. • Fountain led the 4×400 relay to a bronze medal Saturday. She teamed with Nia Fluker, Nyjah Cousar and Lindsey Bellaran to post a time of 3:41.05. • Iana Amsterdam ran a season-best 8.53 in the women’s 60 hurdles to take sixth place, and later took fifth in the women’s triple jump competition with a personal best 41’4.5″ (No. 10 in school history). • A pair of freshmen posted scoring performances Saturday in the field. James Plummer was eighth in the men’s shot put and Anasterasia Terrell was eighth in the women’s triple jump. • Justin Johnson and Brianna Blanton earned eighth-place finishes in the men’s 60 hurdles and women’s 800, respectively. • Josh Davis finished 10th in the men’s 3000 meters. The freshman produced a season-best by any Tiger with a time of 8:24.90.