Clemson’s Otto Spain Ties Lifetime-Best To Advance To 400m Semifinals At NCAA Championships

June 12, 2003

SACRAMENTO, CA – Clemson men’s track and field standout Otto Spain tied his lifetime-best performance in the preliminaries of the 400m dash held Thursday at the A.G. Spanos Sports Complex on the campus of Sacramento State University. The senior from Columbia, SC, broke the tape in 45.57 to win his heat and advance to the semifinals of the event to be contested on Friday morning.

Junior Rick Hill, from Chapel Hill, NC, finished 14th in the decathlon. The native of Chapel Hill, NC, tallied 7,117 points, his second-best career performance. Hill began his day with a time of 14.88 in the 110m hurdles, then posted a mark of 115’7″ in the discus throw. In the third event of the day and eighth of the meet, Hill cleared a career-best 14’9.25″ in the pole vault. He threw 147’5″ in the javelin throw, and clocked a 4:31.53, the third-fastest time in the field, in the 1500m run.

Clemson’s 4x400m relay team of Michael Bolling, Roy Cheney, Jacey Harper and Spain recorded a time of 3:09.47 in the qualifying round of the event, and will not advance to the finals.

On Friday, George Kitchens will compete in the finals of the long jump, and Itay Magidi will contest the finals of the 3,000m steeplechase. Otto Spain will also compete on day three in the 400m semifinals.